UPDATE (With New Photos, Brighton Info): Hartland Chief Calls Fire Worst in Recent Memory

As the cause of a large fire at an auto supplier in Howell Township remains under investigation, Hartland's chief said he'd rank it among the top five worst industrial fires that the county's experienced in the past 20 years.

Adam Carroll, chief of the Hartland Deerfield Fire Authority, said it's difficult to rate fires because each has unique characteristics. Some on the list include blazes at industrial oils plants in Hamburg and Green Oak Township that ocurred within the past five years, he said.

"That said, much of the leadership from command to suppression teams on this fire have firsthand experience from most of those top five fires … That had a direct affect on the success of this operation," Carroll said in an e-mail to Hartland Patch.

Several Livingston County's fire departments — including Brighton and Hartland — worked to contain the blaze at the Magna Atreum facility in Howell Township that began around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Smoke from the blaze could be seen for miles. No injuries have been reported, according to media reports.

"We sent an engine company (fire engine and a crew of four firefighters) plus two chief officers to assist," said Carroll, who added Hartland left the scene at 1 a.m. "The engine was initially assigned to water supply, which was to pump water from the hydrant system to feed the four aerial ladder trucks and three engines that were directly involved in the firefighting effort.

"That crew was soon rotated into the firefighting effort and was assigned to a hoseline inside the building. The two chief officers were assigned to roles within the incident management system as command of the HazMat team, as this was an industrial fire involving chemicals and plastics."

The Brighton Area Fire Department sent two engines (34 and 35) and its ladder truck, along with 15 firefighters to the scene, according to Fire Marshal Mike O'Brian.

"We worked with the other mutual aid departments assisting in fire supression and overall throughout the fire," O'Brian said.

In addition to helping on the scene, Brighton sent Assistant Fire Chief Jim Tester, along with a crew of five firefighters, to man the Howell station and respond to all other calls in the township as Howell's firefighters fought the industrial blaze. Brighton Area Fire Chief Larry Lane was out of town at the time of the fire, O'Brian said.

O'Brian said there were small explosions in the building as chemicals ignited.

"There were drums and other things that were heavily involved in the fire," O'Brian said. "It was a significant fire event in a large commercial building and the crews came together to make sure we stayed safe and saved as much property as we could."

Workers are being asked not to return to work until further notice, but they can pick up their vehicle if it's on the site, according to a Livingston County Daily Press & Argus report. A hotline has been setup for employees — 877-427-4947 — to check for updates, the report said.

The newspaper also reported that plant's shutdown because of the fire has had a ripple affecting work at General Motors plans in several places including stoppages in Flint and Lordstown, Ohio.

Patch contributors who were in the area — Linda Ann Brown and Blake Hasenzahl — submitted photos and video Wednesday. Tammy Chinn of Hartland submitted several photos Thursday afternoon. Chinn's husband works at the facility.

Feel free to submit your own video and pictures here.

If you are from Brighton and Hartland and work at Magna Atreum and would like to share your story of what happened, please contact either Christofer Machniak (christofer.machniak@patch.com) or Wensdy Von Buskirk (wensdy@patch.com).

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