[imagesource:gencraftai]

Butane containers caught fire Monday night at a vaping factory in Detroit, sending a huge fireball and debris into the air in what local Fire Chief Tim Duncan described as a “tremendous amount of fire.”

A 19-year-old who was half a kilometre away from a fiery explosion in the US was struck in the head and killed by a canister that flew into the air from the blast.

The blast was so severe that the blast damaged cars parked three kilometres away.

“In my 25 years … this, by far, was the biggest one that I’ve ever seen.”

The blast sent debris — including blades – in all directions. One firefighter was hurt when a piece of debris went through the windshield and clipped him on the side of his face. The poor teenager was however much farther away when the cannister hit him on the head, killing him instantly.

“Just walking the streets and getting hit by something like that, completely unexpected,” authorities said. “We can’t think of anything sadder as an outcome for this particular situation.”

Officials said the business owners and staff associated with the explosion have been “very cooperative” and “forthright” in the ongoing investigation. Police are continuing to question the owner and staff members to determine what occurred.

The store had a backroom to store products, and “at the time of inspection there, there were no canisters,” Clinton Township building inspector Barry Miller said.

“There are allowable quantities for certain things you can put in those rooms — they did not exceed any of those quantities. Obviously, with what happened last night, they were well over what would have been allowable for that for that site.”

Officials said the store passed inspection in May 2022 and obtained a safety certificate in September 2022. Since 2022, “nobody from the township has been in that building for the purpose of inspections,” Miller said.

In a video of the incident that circulated on social media, all kinds of debris can be seen flying from the inferno.

[source:cbs]