Early video: Wayne, Michigan explosion at Franks Furniture Store.

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From the AP:

A family-owned furniture store in suburban Detroit exploded and collapsed in what appeared to be a natural gas explosion Wednesday, trapping three people in the rubble. Rescuers pulled the store’s owner from the debris and he is in critical condition, Wayne City Manager John Zech told a news conference. Search and rescue teams continued to hunt for two others, who police said are employees at the William C. Franks store. 

“They’re dealing with a lot of debris,” said Inkster Deputy Police Chief Hilton Napoleon, who was assisting other officers in below-freezing temperatures at the scene. “They’ve got to be careful so they don’t cause any more explosions. You don’t know if there are any other flammables in there.” 

From Detroit Free Press:

Paul Franks, the owner of William C. Franks Furniture in Wayne, is in critical condition at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor after a suspected gas explosion leveled the store, Wayne City Manager John Zech said at a news conference this afternoonTwo other people believed to be employees are still inside the building, Zech said, but their names are not being released until family members are notified.

“It’s a sad day in the City of Wayne,” Mayor Al Haidous said at a news conference held early this afternoon.

Click the image to tour the neighorhood via Google Maps Street View.

Howard Stuedemann, 56, was in the hardware store across the street from Franks Furniture when it exploded around 9 a.m. today, just after it opened for the day.

Stuedemann said he ran to the store at 2945 S. Wayne Road in Wayne and saw a man on fire and covered in rubble.

“He was screaming and yelling,” Stuedemann said.

Stuedemann said bystanders worked to free the man. It is unclear if that man was Franks.

Irene Yaklin was working the cash register at the Marathon gas station at Glenwood and Wayne when the explosion hit, causing signs to fall from the drop ceiling.

“I saw the fireball,” she said. “The whole building shook.”

Consumers Energy got a call about a possible gas leak between 6 and 7 a.m. today about two blocks from William C. Franks Furniture, company spokesperson Debra Dodd said. An employee was in the area responding to that report when the building exploded, she said.

The company is now working to shut off the flow of gas in a two-inch steel line below ground, she said. It needs to be dug up. Once that occurs, Consumers Energy employees can get into buildings and start investigating. They don’t have a time line on when the gas will be shut off.

Franks is being treated in the trauma burn unit, hospital spokeswoman Shantell Kirkendoll said.