Screaming workers pounded and kicked locked exit doors as fire swept a chicken processing plant, killing 25 people and injuring 55. The 11-year-old plant had never been inspected.
"A whole lot of people were in one little corner, just pushing, trying to make a hole in the wall," said worker Letha Terry. "I thought I was gone, until a man broke the lock off the door. I thank the Lord I got out, but a whole lot of people got killed."The federal worker safety agency was investigating the blaze and also conducted a surprise inspection of another Imperial Food Products plant in Georgia, an official said Wednesday.
The blaze Tuesday at the Imperial plant erupted when a hydraulic line ruptured near a 26-foot-long deep-fat fryer and the spilled fluid caught fire, said Charles Dunn, deputy director of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Fire Chief David Fuller and Mayor Abbie Covington would not confirm witnesses' reports that all but one of nine exits were locked or blocked.
"I don't have any evidence of doors being locked," Covington said Wednesday. "If we determine that doors were locked, I'm sure there will be some sense of outrage, but I'm not in a position to reach that conclusion."
Ella Mae Blackstock and other workers said the company kept doors locked "so people couldn't steal their chickens."
"Certain doors are locked at certain times," said Brad Roe, operations manager and son of plant owner Emmett J. Roe. "I can't tell you which doors were locked, if any were locked."
SBI agent Neil Godfrey said the designated fire doors were unlocked, but other exits were impassable, including those closest to the fire. "Obviously there may be some compliance problems," he said.
However, a door with a sign saying "Fire Door Do Not Block" was seen padlocked.
Blackened footprints were on one door after the blaze. Some workers could be heard screaming helplessly and eventually perished, witnesses said.
Some victims were found near exits and others were found in a meat locker, where they had fled, Fuller said. About 90 of Imperial Food's 200 employees were in the plant when the fire erupted about 8:30 a.m., the company said.
Authorities said 25 people were killed, and hospitals reported at least 49 injured. The bodies were sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill for autopsies; the mayor said most died of smoke inhalation.
"You can tell by the look of the people that it's a tragedy beyond belief," Covington said. "In a small town its always somebody's neighbor or somebody's son."
One fireman found his father dead, said Joey Jernigan, a town councilman.
A few employees worked the overnight shift cleaning the plant. William English, a supervisor who turned people away from the plant Wednesday morning, said the mood among the few workers on duty Wednesday was somber.
"It's a real sense of loss when you see some of the (victims') cars still parked out front," English said.