A Monday evening explosion in Clinton Township that made national headlines occurred at a vape shop where chemicals were being illegally stored.
A 19-year-old man was killed from the blast. According to reports, the man, who has not yet been named, was standing at a car wash a quarter-mile away when he was struck by a projectile.
The explosion sent canisters flying through the air — one of which injured a firefighter after it smashed through a fire engine window — as well as knives and switchblades that were also stored at the site. At a Tuesday press conference, Clinton Township fire chief Tim Duncan described the scene as “a war zone” that required nearly 60 firefighters.
The incident occurred at 19100 15 Mile Rd., which housed a vape shop called Goo Smoke Shop and a wholesale supplier for Michigan’s vaping industry called Select Distributors. The facility was not allowed to store the chemicals — which included butane, nitrous oxide, and lighter fluid — that resulted in the explosion.
“They were not allowed to have these canisters,” Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon said at Tuesday’s news conference. “They were illegally in that building.”
The facility also stored more than 100,000 vape pens.
The incident is being investigated by police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It comes several years after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unsuccessfully tried to ban flavored nicotine vaping products that have become popular among teens.
In 2019, Whitmer made Michigan the first state to ban flavored nicotine products, citing a rise in teen vaping in recent years. But the move drew condemnation from critics who said that the ban was misguided, as flavored nicotine vaping products are believed to be less harmful than old-school cigarettes.
After years of lawsuits, Michigan dropped the effort to implement the vaping ban in favor of a different legislative approach. A package of bills in the Michigan Senate includes legislation that would ban flavored tobacco products, enact stricter regulations on tobacco sales, place new taxes on e-cigarettes and vaping products that would be used to curb teen tobacco use, require tobacco retailers to be licensed, and repeal penalties against minors for tobacco purchases.
In a 2023 “Tobacco-free report card for Michigan K-12 schools,” Michigan Department of Health and Human Services chief medical executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian said teen vaping was still a problem.
“According to the report, nearly one third of Michigan high school students have used e-cigarettes, and 14% report current use,” Bagdasarian said. “More than 80% of youth who have used a tobacco product started with a flavored product.”
She added, “E-cigarettes are detrimental to the health of our young Michigan residents, and these products can be highly addictive and can contain a variety of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Using these products can permanently damage a developing adolescent brain and tobacco-free policies are an important step to prevent youth vaping and promote youth smoking cessation.”
