Muskegon Heights explosion victim is identified

Jamaun E. Robinson has been identified as the victim of an explosion and house fire in Muskegon Heights, Michigan.

Robinson, 39, was a resident of the city of Muskegon but owned the home in Muskegon Heights, according to a statement issued by Muskegon Heights Fire Chief Christopher Dean.

Firefighters looking for hot spots after Tuesday’s early-morning explosion and fire in the 2000 block of Superior Street north of East Delano Avenue found human remains, Dean told MLive.

It is believed that Robinson died as the result of the fire and not the explosion. Autopsy results are pending.

Muskegon Heights is just south of Muskegon on Lake Michigan, about 40 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.

Muskegon Heights explosion:
Investigation ongoing

The cause of the explosion, reported by multiple callers a little before 5 a.m., has yet to be determined, Dean said. The Muskegon Heights police and fire departments and Michigan State Police have been conducting an investigation.

Neighbors told investigators that no one had been living in the small house – which Dean estimated to be about 900 square feet – for several weeks.

Muskegon Heights explosion:
House is a ‘total loss’

The house was engulfed in flames when firefighters reached the scene and had already started to collapse, Dean said.

“When we first got on scene, the house was a total loss,” he said. “The walls had collapsed as a result of the explosion.”

Dean said firefighters immediately started working to prevent the fire from spreading to other homes in the neighborhood, which is west of South Getty Street.

Jamaun E. Robinson, 39, was identified as the victim of a Muskegon Heights explosion and fire early Tuesday morning in western Michigan.

Valley Proteins explosion:
Dust might be to blame

On March 11, an explosion at the Valley Proteins animal rendering plant in Rose Hill, North Carolina, severely injured five workers, who needed to be airlifted to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center (UNC Burn Clinic) in Chapel Hill, about 110 miles north of Rose Hill.

The workers were employees of a contractor hired by Valley Proteins. No other information was released on the five victims.

According to WITN-TV in Greenville, the explosion happened in the plant’s finished products area at about 11 a.m.

Dust might have been the cause of the explosion. According to Michael Smith, owner and chairman of Valley Proteins, the workers were using welding equipment in a dusty area when the blast happened.

Valley Proteins explosion:
No damage to plant

No Valley Proteins employees were injured in the explosion, and the plant sustained no significant damage.

Authorities are investigating the industrial accident, but Smith told the Associated Press that his primary concern is the health of the injured workers and their full recovery.

Valley Proteins is based in Winchester, Virginia. The company renders remnant animal products, and recycles supermarket and food-service waste into products that are used to manufacture pet food and biofuels.