MUSKEGON, Mich. - An excavator broke a gas line at a business Wedsneday afternoon, according to the Muskegon fire marshal.
The machine was attempting to knock down the structure which previously caught fire Tuesday night. Fire crews had worked overnight and into the morning to put the flames out.
However, hotspots remained visible into the afternoon and flared up. The fire marshal said the structure was unsafe and needed to be knocked down before fire crews could resume. So the excavator was brought in and went to work.
"Unfortunately, there was an existing gas line that had been hit that we were under the impression had been secured. It had not been," fire marshal Scott Hemmelsbach said.
Crews pushed everyone back from the area and shut down Sheridan Road.
DTE Energy quickly worked to shut off the gas valve in about 35 minutes. Fire crews then resumed dousing the hotspots in the 75,000 square foot structure.
