MARCH 12, 2015
MARYSVILLE, MICHIGAN
Bruce Lindke was inside his home on Gratiot Boulevard
Thursday when he heard a booming explosion.
"I thought it was going to break out our front window,
and then I saw the smoke coming up," Lindke said.
Two people were injured in an explosion at South Park
Welding Supplies, located across the street from Lindke's Gratiot Road home. The business stores welding supplies that are always an explosion hazard, as unfortunately happened today. The worker who has the burns in his face most likely was filling a bottle with gas and it exploded.
Rescue crews were called to the scene at 50 Gratiot
Boulevard, Marysville, MI 48040 shortly after 3 p.m.
The Clair Inn, which is located just south of South Park
Welding, was evacuated. People in the surrounding area were told to stay inside
their homes.
Law enforcement units from Marysville Police Department,
Port Huron Police Department, St. Clair County Sheriff Department, Michigan
State Police and U.S. Border Patrol closed the roadways north, south and west
of the fire for close to three hours.
As of about 7 p.m., firefighters from Port Huron and
Marysville remained at the scene of the fire.
Ron Buckmaster, deputy chief for the Marysville Department
of Public Safety, said one person was treated for minor injuries and released.
Another person was hospitalized for treatment of
second-degree burns to his hands and face.
Buckmaster said workers will not be able to return to the
building Friday.
Lindke, a former undersheriff for the county, watched as
firefighters worked to contain the fire.
"I thought the Marysville and Port Huron fire
departments worked really well together," Lindke said. "I think it
prevented things from being a lot worse than they were before."
South Park Welding Supplies was damaged seriously in a fire
on Nov. 2, 2009. An acetylene tank caught fire and several secondary explosions
followed.
Debris from the 2009 explosion flew hundreds of feet. One
person was injured, with burns to his face, head and hands.
Paul Wessel was at his Gratiot Boulevard home during the
2009 fire and Thursday's explosion. On Thursday, he was in his basement when a
loud boom shook his home.
"The other one was a lot scarier," Wessel said, of
the shrapnel and metal that exploded from the 2009 fire.
"This one could have been just as bad but they got it
out a lot quicker."
Buckmaster said the cause of Thursday's fire remains under
investigation, but its clear there was an explosion of some sort.
"There's cinder blocks missing out of one section of
the wall and windows were blown out," he said.
Source: http://www.thetimesherald.com