Location: Imperial Foods Chicken Nugget Plant, Hamlet, North Carolina
Significance: The worst industrial disaster in North Carolina's history
The Incident
Time: Approximately 8:15 AM
Primary Cause: A hydraulic line, altered with an inadequate fitting, bursts near a high-temperature deep fryer, releasing hydraulic fluid into the burners.
Result: A massive fireball erupts, cutting phone lines and blinding employees with thick, toxic smoke.
Consequences
Fire Escalation:
Natural gas line feeding the fryers fails due to heat, exacerbating the fire.
Evacuation Issues:
Many exits are padlocked from outside to prevent suspected employee theft.
Employees are trapped, pounding on locked doors in a desperate attempt to escape.
Unscathed: Only 11 out of 90 employees escape without injuries.
Emergency Response
Initial Alarm: At 8:24 AM, Brad Roe reports the fire at the fire station.
First Response: Captain Calvin White and his team arrive three minutes later to a scene of chaos, with many dead and injured.
Legal and Financial Repercussions
Owner: Emmett Roe, the plant owner, padlocked fire exits suspecting theft.
Charges: Pleaded guilty to 25 counts of involuntary manslaughter in 1992.
Sentence: 19 years and 11 months; paroled after four years with orders to never return to North Carolina.
Fines: Imperial Foods was fined $808,150, the highest in NC history at the time.
Closure: The plant was closed and subsequently demolished.
Lessons and Reflections
This disaster highlights the critical importance of workplace safety regulations, emergency preparedness, and ensuring unobstructed emergency exits in industrial settings.
The event serves as a grim reminder of the potential consequences of ignoring safety standards and prioritizing profit over employee welfare.