Clinton Twp. explosions shot debris 2 miles away, felt like 'war zone,' officials say

Clinton Township — A fire and series of thunderous explosions at a Clinton Township vape supply facility shot debris as far as two miles away from the facility on 15 Mile on Monday night and a man was killed, township officials said Tuesday.

Police and fire fighters are investigating the cause of the explosions at the facility, identified both as Select Distributors and Goo Smoke Shop. The debris included canisters weighing 10 to 15 pounds, which careened from the site with such force that they embedded into buildings and cars.

The canisters were not there legally, township Supervisor Robert Cannon said at an afternoon press conference. Township officials did not know the canisters were on site or how they were used. Police Chief Dina Caringi said officers are questioning the owners and employees of the smoke shop and distribution facility.

Cannon warned people to stay away from the explosion scene at 15 Mile and Groesbeck Highway, and away from the debris still littering the corridor.

"Please don’t put yourself, your family and your friends in jeopardy, because those are dangerous," the supervisor said. "Anybody who saw anything at all from last night knows what could possibly happen to them."

A 19-year-old man was killed and a firefighter was injured by the nighttime blast. The teen was less than half a mile from the scene, Caringi said. The police department has not yet identified him publicly.

The firefighter was taken to the hospital and later released with minor injuries.

Witnessing the explosion felt like being in a war zone, township Fire Department Chief Tim Duncan said, with "shrapnel going off anywhere you look."

The smell of plastic hung in the air near the site Tuesday. Township officials said it is safe to breathe.

The Clinton Township Fire Department will start its investigation Wednesday when the scene has cooled, Duncan said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping with the investigation.

What inspections previously found

The fire department inspected the facility in May 2022 and did not find any notable issues.

Barry Miller, Clinton Township building department superintendent, said his team performed inspections in 2022 alongside the fire department. The city has since had only a complaint on the property involving the storage of duck boats in front of the business, which were removed, he said.

"Other than that, there’s been no reason for the building department or the fire department to suspect that any of this was going on," he said.

The address where the explosions occurred is connected to two firms, Select Distributors and Goo LLC, according to state incorporation records. A man who answered at the home of Noor Kestou, the registered agent for Select Distributors and Goo LLC, said Tuesday he had no comment.

The Goo Smoke Shop building is a former Save-A-Lot retail and warehouse facility, Clinton Township officials said Tuesday. The facility stored containers of butane, nitrous oxide, lighter fluid and vape pens. Some containers or canisters were 12 to 18 inches in size and weighed 10 to 15 pounds.

On its website, Select Distributors bills itself as a wholesale supplier of novelty items for dollar stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and other retail outlets. It offers everyday products such as phone cords, candy and antifreeze. It also sells items for smoke shops, including cans of nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas”; cannabis products such as CBD gummies; disposable marijuana vape pens; vaporizer batteries; capsules of kratom; and canisters of butane.

Greg Conley, director of legislative and external affairs for the American Vapor Manufacturers industry group, said some of the materials stored in the facility, namely butane, likely had to do with manufacturing marijuana products.

Expert discusses combustibility

Butane can be used to extract THC from cannabis. The final product is an oil that has the consistency of honey or wax, that can be used in vaporizers.

“Nicotine vaping products are water-based, so there is no oil, there’s no extraction process. You can buy the nicotine that’s already been extracted from the tobacco leaf in professional labs, so you don’t have people trying to do science in their backyard,” Conley said. “And meanwhile with THC vaping products, they’re oil-based and require somebody to extract the THC from the actual marijuana. And that involves chemicals and, in some cases, can involve chemicals that can cause fires.”

The Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency did not immediately respond to a request for information about Select Distributors LLC. Clinton Township Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Brouwer said there are no marijuana dispensaries in the township.

Vapes, like cellphones and other electronics, contain lithium-ion batteries. Those batteries can overheat and explode. Conley said it’s unlikely a fire would start because of vape batteries, but said a fire in the facility could set off a chain reaction of battery explosions.

“You have a lot of lithium-ion batteries in one place," in a warehouse facility, Conley said. "If there is a fire, you have the possibility of multiple lithium-ion batteries being set on fire.”

Select Distributors also sold small butane canisters for lighter refills, according to its website.

Select Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2021, federal court records show. Another business represented by Kestou, SD Imports, also filed for bankruptcy in July 2021. The bankruptcy estate was administered and the case was closed in February 2022.

The bankruptcies led to the dismissal of a lawsuit that Kestou and Select Distributors had filed against against another Michigan company, Breeze Smoke LLC, in 2020 following a dispute over Select Distributors’ use of the word “breeze” on disposable vaping devices. Breeze Smoke contended the use of “breeze” violated its trademark, which Select Distributors disputed.

U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan Judge Judith Levy granted a dismissal of that case in 2021, citing the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Explosions 'shook the floor'

Diane Warren of Clinton Township said Tuesday she was watching TV around 9 p.m. Monday when she started hearing small booms, like firecrackers. Then, they got louder.

More:1 dead, 1 injured in Clinton Twp. fire that sent debris flying a mile

“And it shook the floor in the house, knocked a lantern down in the bathroom, and we could see the flames really high in red and orange, and … it felt like an earthquake,” she recalled. Warren said it was too close for comfort.

“It was scary because you’d think that it was going to come to your house, you know hit the roof and stuff,” she said.

Warren said she and her husband, Jim, lost electricity around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., but just for a short time.

Warren lives less than half a mile from the site. She said people who live nearby came to her street to see what was going on. It was like a traffic jam, she said.

Warren praised the firefighters who responded to the blasts.

“I thank God for our fire guys,” she said. “We complain about our taxes, but I tell you what … we have our workers. Thank God for them.”

Margarita Derraj, the owner of Michael’s Kitchen on Groesbeck Highway, about a half mile from where the fire and explosions occurred, said she and her employees were getting ready to close the restaurant for the night when they started to hear noises.

She thought someone was on the roof, so she opened the back door and thought she saw a thunderstorm. Her colleague said a factory was exploding.

It was terrifying, Derraj said. There was a black cloud in the air. The explosions sounded like fireworks. After she left work, she could still hear the explosion from her home three miles away.

Kevin Felster of Emmett near Port Huron said he was on his way to Clinton Township to visit Joleen Vultaggio in Sterling Heights when he saw the fire and heard the explosions.

After he got out of his car to watch, he saw hundreds of pieces of metal littering nearby roads, pieces from the size of a spray can to the size of a car wheel.

"It was heavy stuff and it was all charred black," Felster said of a piece of debris he picked up. "I guarantee you … if that came flying through the air at any velocity at all, it would just shatter your head like nothing."

Vultaggio said she heard the explosions from eight miles away at her home.

"It just freaked me out," she said, "because it wasn't like one boom, it was continuous and it was very intense."

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Staff Writers Charles E. Ramirez and Robert Snell contributed.