WAYNE, Mich., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A second gas leak Wednesday led officials to evacuate the Wayne, Mich., City Hall only hours after an explosion leveled a furniture store, authorities said.
The explosion left a store owner injured and two other people possibly buried under the rubble, The Detroit News reported.
Crews conducted a sweep following the explosion and detected a leak in a residential area west of the store, the report said. Residents of the area were being evacuated as well. After discovering the second leak, crews were digging up the second underground gas main to shut it off.
Authorities set up a mobile command center in a strip mall.
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Deputy chief fire marshal for the city of Wayne, Shawn Bell, said rescuers were inside the partially collapsed store doing hand-to-hand search for the victims.
"There's a lot of danger of further collapse, so we have to take precautions for the rescuers in there," Bell told the News.
Crews were using listening devices to detect any sounds from the victims, and rescuers were still fighting hot spots within the structure.
Bell said canine search and rescue teams were on the way.
The William C. Franks Furniture store in Wayne exploded about 9 a.m., the Detroit Free Press reported. Paul Franks, the owner, was pulled from the rubble in critical condition at the University of Michigan Trauma Burn Center in Ann Arbor.
Officials feared two employees were missing -- a secretary and salesman. Emergency responders were working to free people inside.
The store, a local fixture since 1963, was reduced to rubble. Broken wood frames, cinder blocks and remnants of dry wall were scattered around, and windows of nearby buildings blown out.
