Investigators have determined the explosion and fires at the Dicastal Inc. facility on March 17 in Greenville, Michigan, were caused by sparks from a hand grinder that ignited aluminum dust, according to the Greenville Department of Public Safety Fire Investigation Unit.

The automotive supplier, which makes lightweight aluminum alloy wheels for Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, has not responded to requests from the Detroit Free Press for comment since the explosion.

"Evidence showed an employee was utilizing a hand grinder as part of a maintenance project in the foundry area. While performing the repair work to a piece of machinery, sparks from the hand grinder inadvertently ignited aluminum dust in the vicinity of the labor being executed. This ignition of dust set off the explosion," said a news release issued late Wednesday from the city of Greenville.

A burned employee transported to the hospital after the explosion is "continuing to recover and his condition improves daily," the city's news release said. The plant is about 30 miles east of Grand Rapids.

"I have no estimates on damage to the building, but it was contained to the foundry area on the night the incident occurred," Brian Blomstrom, interim director of the Greenville Department of Public Safety, told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday.

No comment

Officials from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) have been on-site or notified, he said.

A person who answered the company's main phone line on Thursday said Dicastal is not speaking to the news media at this time. She declined to say how much production has been disrupted or respond to any other inquiries.

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Firefighters from three different departments worked together using on-site dry chemical powder extinguishers the night of the explosion to battle flames within the plant and on the roof, the news release said.

The incident, which has been ruled an accident, was declared under control at 1:47 a.m. Saturday, approximately four hours after the initial call was received, the news release confirmed.

"Sgt. Steve DeWitt did an excellent job as the incident commander that night, both with being situationally aware of decisions that needed to be made, and coordinating the workings of fire suppression personnel," Blomstrom said in the release that credited previous training for such incidents.

Dicastal owned by the China

Overall, emergency responders came from the Greenville Department of Public Safety, the Montcalm Township Fire Department, city of Belding Fire Department, Lakeview District Fire Department, Montcalm County EMS, Montcalm County Technical Rescue Team, Life EMS, the Michigan State Police, and Montcalm County Central Dispatch, according to the news release.

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Review of the case was led by Greenville fire investigators Jamie Sorsen and Jess Dear with assistance from Dicastal facilities manager Sam Myers and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the news release said.

Dicastal is a subsidiary of Qinhuangdao, China-based CITIC Dicastal Co., which calls itself on its website the "world's largest supplier of aluminum alloy wheels."

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dicastal Inc. explosion caused by sparks that ignited aluminum dust