Fire that spewed thick, black smoke at Lansing salvage business under investigation
Ken PalmerLANSING - Officials are investigating the cause of a fire Tuesday night at an industrial equipment salvage business on Lansing's south side that spewed thick, black smoke over several neighborhoods.
Authorities closed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Holmes Road after oil and hydraulic fluid caught fire in an outdoor parts storage area behind the business' main building around 9 p.m., Lansing fire officials said.
No one was injured, and no buildings were damaged.
All lanes of MLK were closed near Holmes for about an hour because firefighters needed to run hoses from hydrants on the east side of the road to the fire scene on the west side of the road, Assistant Lansing Fire Chief Matthew Jenkins said.
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The storage racks where the fire occurred were several hundred yards off the road, making access difficult for firefighters, he said. Some small pressurized containers exploded in the heat, he said.
The cause remains under investigation.
Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.