EPA takes charge of Detroit-area cleanup of vaping supplies warehouse destroyed by explosions

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The federal government is leading a cleanup of the hazardous remains of a Detroit-area storage site for vaping supplies, five months after explosions destroyed the building, sent debris flying for miles and killed a man.

Goo Smoke Shop in Macomb County’s Clinton Township was stuffed with vape pens, butane cannisters, nitrous oxide cylinders and lithium batteries. While loads of debris have been recovered in the surrounding area, there is still more work to be done.

“We don’t know what we’re going to find in there,” Sean Kane of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told reporters Tuesday, though more butane and nitrous oxide are likely.

“We are actually going to go in and start segregating all the hazardous materials, and we will be doing a full removal of everything that you see in the background,” Kane said.

Behind a fence, the 28,000-square-foot property is in ruins. The roof collapsed during the March fire and explosions. Mounds of charred, twisted metal framed by a few steel girders still remain.

“We’re going to be ramping up after Labor Day with more personnel on site,” said Kane, who is coordinating the effort.

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