VIDEO: Crews battled a fire overnight at the historic Detroit Salt Company in Southwest Detroit. It’s home to the largest salt dry-mining operation in the entire state, spanning 1,500 acres underground. ABC7 was told everyone inside the building was evacuated safely, with no injuries reported. The employees were all sent home as a precaution. ABC7 was told the fire was contained to the inside of the building.
What was of particular concern here was the chemicals stored at this property. Chemicals aren’t just on the property; they were inside the building where the fire originally happened, but Hazmat got held up getting to the scene. They were stopped in front of the Marathon refinery by a train stopped on the tracks. The other crews first to this scene also had an obstacle of their own. A fire hydrant nearby broke; Detroit Public Works already blocked it off, but it’s still bubbling. Then, about two hours after all that happened, fire crews got called back out there. The crews responded to the first call just after 1 a.m., running into a stopped train and that broken hydrant.
