Two men were seriously injured in an Independence Township explosion Wednesday when an attempt to create homemade fireworks went terribly wrong.
The men, brothers Andy Impola and Lee Marvin Impola, were reportedly inside a maintenance building at Landcaster Lakes Apartments off Dixie Highway, just south of M-15, when the blast occurred around 4 p.m.
Andy, 31, who is employed as a Landcaster Lakes maintenance person, and also lives in the complex, was listed in critical condition at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
Lee, 32, a resident of Burton, was in serious condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
According to police, the two were manufacturing flash powder M-series-type devices, such as M-80s, M-200s and ‘quarter sticks?’all illegal explosives’inside the shed.
Flames engulfed the building almost immediately following the explosion, leading to a Fourth of July accident among the worst in recent history.
‘I’ve been here 30 years I’ve never seen one like this,? said Undersheriff Mike McCabe, of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. ‘We’ve had people blow fingers off, blow hands off, but I’ve never seen one that’s basically become a fire ball and consumed an entire building and almost kill two people.?
The situation, said McCabe, was complicated by the fact that other materials’such as mowers and gasoline’were stored in the shed.
One of the men was rescued by witnesses just before the fire broke out.
The Sheriff’s Office, Independence Township Fire Department and the ATF are requesting that anyone possessing such devices turn them in to a local police agency or fire department as they are very dangerous and illegal.
Check back at ClarkstonNews.com for updates and the July 11 edition for full story.