4 dead in blaze at Lapeer County mobile home after neighbors hear 'boom'

Dryden Township — Four people died Monday morning in a fire at a mobile home in the Lapeer County community of Dryden Township after witnesses reported hearing a "boom," a fire official said Monday.

Dryden Township fire Chief Mark Hagemeister told reporters Monday that 911 calls came in about 5:07 a.m., reporting the fire. When firefighters arrived minutes later, they found the home "fully engulfed," Hagemeister said. 

The home is in the Victoria Meadows mobile home community, north of Main Street and east of North Mill Road.

Hagemeister and Dryden police Chief Shawn Peters spoke in front of the burned-down home Monday. The home on one side of the burned-down structure showed fire damage, but Hagemeister said the residents of adjacent homes are already back in their homes.

The Fire Department turned over the scene to the state fire marshal for investigation, Hagemeister said. The Dryden and Almont fire departments put out the fire, according to the Dryden police.  

Police are also investigating the blaze, Peters said. As of Monday afternoon, police had yet to obtain official identifications of the victims and had not notified next of kin. 

While confirming that the victims are believed to be an older woman, possibly in her 80s, a younger woman in her 30s and two youths, possibly teenagers, the police chief declined to give the gender of the young victims.

"However it shapes up, it's a tragedy nonetheless," Peters said. 

The Lapeer County Medical Examiners Office is conducting autopsies, according to the Dryden police.

Police and firefighters remain at the scene.

There is "evidence of some sort of explosion," said Hagemeister, who said debris was strewn into neighbors' yards at a great distance. Peters said he had been told the older woman was on oxygen.

Dryden Township is about 52 miles north of Detroit and about 8 miles west of Almont.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CharlesERamirez