Fiery explosion at Michigan building kills teen quarter mile away, officials say

A teenager is dead after being hit by debris from a fiery explosion about a quarter of a mile away at a building in Clinton Township, Michigan, officials said. 

A firefighter was injured in the blaze Monday after first responders arrived on the scene shortly before 9 p.m. the Clinton Township Police Department said Tuesday on Facebook.

Local officials asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for assistance due to "the fact that the business operated as a novelty supply company known to stock combustible materials," police also said.       

The fire was located in the building of Select Distributors, a wholesale supplier whose website features adult products such as. devices designed for marijuana, nicotine vapes, nitrous oxide and Kratom, a drug that can create effects similar to both opioids and stimulants, per the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Police asked the public late Monday evening to avoid the area. 

"Please, please, please stay inside and out of the vicinity. Debris is being projected into the air and coming down as far as a mile away from the explosion," police wrote in a separate Facebook post. "As we do not know what is burning, we do not know the effects of the smoke/air right now, so please stay out of the area and stay safe."

Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said the person who died was a 19-year-old man, per The Detroit News. That victim has not been publicly identified as of Tuesday morning.

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