On the 3rd of September, 1991, a fire began at the Imperial Food Products chicken processing
plant in Hamlet, North Carolina.
The fire was an unusually devastating one… and during the investigation which followed
it would be revealed that the plant had a long history of ignoring regulation and evading
inspection – an attempt to reduce costs that ultimately cost those who worked there
everything.
Imperial Food Products was founded by a man named Emmett Roe in the 1970s.
Its main business was the processing and supply of chicken products to other companies including
restaurants and retailers.
Roe owned several facilities, with the factory in Hamlet being acquired in 1980 to add to
his growing portfolio.
This particular plant would be managed by Emmet’s son, Brad Roe.
This factory had been sitting empty for a while.
It had started life as the Mello-Buttercup Ice Cream Plant, but was ideally situated
to be turned into a chicken processing facility.
Standing in the town of Hamlet in North Carolina, the plant was geographically close to both
suppliers of chicken, and distributors of chicken products.
Not only that, but labour in the area was cheap, as there was a serious shortage of
jobs.
Once acquired by Imperial Food Products the building was renovated extensively, and quickly
became the home of one of the largest employers in the area.
Even from the very beginning, though, there were a lot of problems at the plant.
The Roes never applied for many of the licences required to run the business, as doing so
would have cost a great deal of money, and caused them to be subject to surprise inspections
by the state.
The plant was accused of contaminating the town’s water supply with chicken grease
and furthermore suffered several small fires in 1980, 1983, and 1987.
One of these fires disabled the sprinkler system that had been put in place by the previous
tenant of the building.
It was not replaced.
For any other business this consistent refusal to comply with licencing and safety regulations
might have resulted in an investigation, a massive fine, and perhaps further legal consequences
for the responsible parties.
However, in the case of the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, the Roes were able
to get away with an extraordinary amount of non-compliance for one simple reason: the
factory was a vital employer for the town, and contributed hugely to its economy.
Should anything cause the factory to close or relocate, it would be devastating for the
people of Hamlet.
For this reason, officials often turned a blind eye – an attitude they later described
as “benign neglect”.
In the days leading up to the disaster, workers at the Hamlet plant made some repairs to a
leaking hydraulic line on one of the machines.
The head mechanic had requested a brand new replacement line, but was told by the Roes
that it would be too expensive, and to use a spare part instead.
Workers fitted a spare line, but were unhappy with the result – the line was too long
and presented a trip hazard.
To tidy up their work, they sliced the line into pieces with a saw and used an improvised
connecter to shorten it.
It’s worth noting that this was all done while the factory was fully operational.
It was standard practise to do so, as closing down the production line could be extremely
costly, and any worker who did so risked losing their job.
As soon as the repair was made, then, the machine was put back into use.
It was around 8:15am, and there were approximately 90 staff members on site at this point in
time.
As soon as the line was put back into action the improvised connector failed: the hose
snapped, spraying flammable hydraulic fluid across the room.
On contact with the heating element of a cooker, this fluid ignited, and a fire spread rapidly
through the factory.
There was plenty of fuel for this fire.
Many surfaces in the factory were coated with residual chicken grease, and there were large
vats of cooking oil and multiple gas supplies throughout the building.
These flammable materials contributed to a fire that was so hot it easily melted materials
that were supposed to be fireproof, and produced huge quantities of poisonous gas that could
kill with just a single breath.
Workers fled through any exit they could reach.
Those on one side of the fire were able to leave through the main door… but those on
the far side were trapped, and found multiple fire exits locked or blocked.
In one case workers were prevented from escaping through a delivery dock because it was obstructed
by a truck, in the cab of which the driver had fallen asleep.
Desperate to escape the smoke and flames, workers tried to kick out air conditioning
units, break down doors, and even take shelter inside a walk-in fridge.
Manager Brad Roe tried to place a call to the fire department, but by the time he did
so the phone lines had burned through, and were inoperable.
He was forced to drive to the local fire station to report the fire in person instead.
Hamlet had only a tiny official fire department, and so further help was requested from several
nearby towns.
There was a volunteer fire department based just five minutes away from the factory.
Firefighters there were on standby and available to assist.
However, this volunteer department was based in a largely African American area.
For reasons that are officially uncertain, but may have been connected to personal prejudices,
the Hamlet Fire Chief made the decision not to call on them, and to await help from further
afield instead.
While this help was on its way, bystanders and survivors did what they could.
They woke the sleeping truck driver and had him pull away from the loading bay to create
a way out, while at the same time a tractor was used to haul aside a dumpster that was
blocking another exit.
By 10:00am the fire was under control.
For two hours firefighters searched the ruins of the building, hoping to find survivors.
There were few.
At 12:20 that same day their work became a recovery operation.
25 people had lost their lives, and a further 54 had been injured.
The vast majority of the dead were employees of the factory…
although one visitor had also died: a delivery driver who had been restocking vending machines
on site at the time of the fire.
In the aftermath of the disaster, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration carried out
a detailed investigation.
Multiple safety issues were identified, not least of which were the locked fire exit doors
– something which many workers reported was done to prevent theft.
Had the plant complied with the safety standards it should have complied with, it was suggested
that the majority of deaths that had taken place during the fire could have been avoided.
It was noted that the plant had been inspected to ensure that it was producing food that
was safe to eat, and that time, money and energy had been put into maintaining compliance
with food safety standards.
But, unfortunately, the same energy had not been dedicated to ensuring the safety of the
people working there.
Emmet Roe, as the owner of the plant, was charged with 25 counts of involuntary manslaughter,
but negotiated a plea bargain.
No charges were made against his son, Brad Roe, but Emmet Roe was sent to prison for
a little over 19 years.
After serving just four, he was let out early, and went on to enjoy a quiet retirement in
Georgia.
Imperial Food Products was handed an unprecedented fine of $808,150.
So huge was the fine, in fact, that the company immediately went bankrupt and was unable to
pay it.
Emmet Roe also declared personal bankruptcy, and so it was left to his insurers to foot
the bill in the many, many civil suits which followed.
For many years the ruins of the plant remained in place, a constant reminder of the tragedy
that had devastated Hamlet.
It was only in 2002 that the site was finally cleared – though the trauma of the fire
remains a serious issue for many survivors and families in Hamlet to this day.
Soon after the disaster, the state of North Carolina overhauled its inspection processes,
with a new focus on high-risk industries, more inspectors and higher fines for violations.
Many other food processing companies made voluntary improvements to safety and record-keeping,
and sought to distance themselves from the Roes and Imperial Food Products.
The Hamlet chicken processing plant fire remains a horrifying example of how costly attempting
to save money can be.
An attempt to save the cost of a new hydraulic line ended up costing the company everything.
Allowing a factory to operate in an unsafe condition in an effort to retain a valuable
employer ended up costing the town not just the factory, but the very lives of the people
who had worked there.