12/15/20 - Mason commercial building fire, 655 Hull Rd

At 7:05 AM on Tuesday morning, December 15, 2020, the Mason Fire Department was dispatched to a commercial building fire at Cleanlites Recycling, 655 Hull Rd. The Leslie and Delhi Township fire departments were also dispatched on automatic aid. Leslie Fire command was in the area and arrived within minutes of dispatch, reporting a fire in a commercial dumpster at the rear of the building. Shortly after that report an explosion occurred, believed to be from exposed propane tanks, and the fire extended into the warehouse. Firefighters were familiar with this building and its contents due to a fire at the facility a couple of months prior. When suppression personnel arrived, the fire had already gained considerable headway into the building. Command initiated a defensive attack. During the firefight, additional mutual aid for manpower was called in from the Onondaga, Dansville, Meridian Twp, and NIESA fire departments. The Eaton County air trailer was requested to respond from Eaton Rapids since Ingham County currently does not have a mobile cascade resource. Firefighters worked to access the interior of the building from all available openings, eventually cutting away pieces of the exterior walls to get to unreachable areas. Smoke started to show from the office building so a crew made entry, finding only smoke from the warehouse and no fire extension. The fire was brought under control several hours later. The warehouse was completely destroyed, but firefighters prevented the fire from extending to the office building.