The owner of a suburban Detroit furniture store is now in fair condition at the University’s Trauma Burn Center after being rescued from an explosion that killed two people last week.

Paul Franks, the owner of William C. Franks Furniture in Wayne, Mich., was upgraded from serious to fair condition on Wednesday, according to Shantell Kirkendoll, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan Health System.

Franks was one of two people reported as injured after the furniture store suddenly exploded at about 9 a.m. on Dec. 29. Franks was pulled from the rubble after his store exploded due to a suspected natural gas leak, The Associated Press reported. Two other employees at the store were killed.

Franks, 64, was reported to be in critical condition immediately following the explosion. Franks was in serious condition earlier this week and then improved to fair condition on Wednesday, Kirkendoll said in an interview yesterday. Patients in fair condition display consciousness and have stable vital signs, according to the American Hospital Association.

Jessica Soulliere, a UMHS spokesman, wrote in an e-mail interview Tuesday that Franks’s family is requesting privacy during his treatment.

“The family has requested we not release any other information about Mr. Franks other than his condition,” she wrote.

Franks is one of about 1,450 patients who are admitted to the University’s burn center each year, according to the UMHS website. The burn center is classified as a Level 1 Pediatric and Adult Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons, the website states — meaning it’s recognized as a resource for all hospitals in the region.

The other person injured in the explosion was last reported to be in stable condition at the Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne, Mich., according to the AP. The victim, whose name has not been disclosed, was driving by the store when it exploded, the AP reported.

In an interview yesterday, Debra Dodd, a spokeswoman for area energy supplier Consumers Energy, said Consumers Energy is investigating the incident.

Consumers Energy is working with the Michigan Public Service Commission and the federal Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to determine the cause of the accident, Dodd said.

She added that Consumers Energy workers removed an eight-foot section of a steel gas main pipe from the area near the explosion earlier this week. The section was then sent to a lab in Wixom, Mich. for testing, Dodd said.