HARPER WOODS (WWJ) - Authorities are trying to determine the cause of a fire in Harper Woods that claimed the life of a man in his 20s.
Firefighters responded to the home on Country Club Drive, near Vernier and I-94, around 1:20 a.m. Thursday and found flames shooing through the roof.
"We had a lot of smoke and flames in the attic. I went around to the back of the house, the back door was unlocked, cracked open the door, yelled inside and didn't get a response," Fire Captain Dave Mehl told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "The smoke was already at the floor level at that time and before I could even get to the front of the house, the flames were though the roof."
Once the fire was extinguished and firefighters were able to enter the home, they found the man on the second floor. He was declared dead at the scene.
"The fire looks like it did start in the upstairs area, which is why I thought it was in the roof, which it was," said Mehl. "The main floor has, more or less, a lot of smoke but not a lot of flame damage, perse. Everything was pretty much above the main level."
Firefighters made another discovery in the basement: a marijuana growing operation.
"The neighbor said 'I think he grows.' I originally sent two guys into the basement strictly to check if there was fire downstairs. A lot of times when you have fire in the attic it can start in the basement and channel up the wall -- so I had them go down there," said Mehl. "There was no smoke or heat or flames or anything, other than a few plants down there. So to the extent of the grow, that I don't know."
A cause of the fire remains under investigation.
