Hamlet NC Chicken Plant Disaster Memorial.AVI

Driving through main street Hamlet NC toward Bridges street to the former site of the Imperial chicken processing plant to pay my respects and mourn the 25 dead that were trapped in the building when it caught fire on the morning of Sept. 3rd 1991.
The emergency fire exit doors were chained shut by the owners as a means of loss prevention. May God continue to have mercy on their souls.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• imperial foods
• industrial accident
• bridges street hamlet nc
• Chicken plant fatalities
• hydraulic line
• doors chained up
• mojo nixon
• jello biafra
• prairie home invasion
• september 3rd 1991
• september 3rd 2011
• hamlet chicken plant disaster
• emmett roe
• main street
• hamlet nc
• memorial

[starbroadcasting]

Emmett J. Roe, The former owner of the plant would be 85 years old now.

There is more then one person in America with the same name. All the info I have I have obtained from many hours of "digging" on the web. You can do the same. I would not want to point anyone in the wrong direction , or cause an innocent person to be harassed. Or make myself liable. So I will leave it at that.

If I personally wanted to know where he was I would start looking in Georgia . No Info on how he has spent his life

[starbroadcasting]

Hamlet had a city wide moment of silence at 8:15am on the morning of Sept 3rd.

some folks in the city simply don't want to open up old wounds and have little to say, while others are willing to talk about it. 20 years is a long time but to some it seems like only yesterday. I can assure everyone that there are total strangers that pray for the survivors and their Families. we love you all and wish you happiness and hopefully some kind of closure.

[deltaguy28]

We just learned of this TRAGIC Event in Our OSHA training Event! This was preventable!

[starbroadcasting]

@deltaguy28 Yes I have heard somewhere before that this was a textbook criminal case, and it has appeared in more then a few types of various training material . While it is sad, this is a good teaching moment to help prevent a repeat. The former site of the Imperial plant is quiet and peaceful now. folks from all over come to pay their respects to people they never knew. Jeff

[hawkeye3073]

My aunt Josie Coulter was one of the victims of this brutal crime. Why was it a brutal crime? Because when the accident happened the workers were trapped in the plant by padlocked doors. Thank you for posting this. We live in Tennessee and haven't been back to see the memorial.

[starbroadcasting]

I'm so sorry your Aunt was there on that tragic day. I just hope there were lessons learned and that this type of thing never happens again. As I type this it is the night before the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy. The small town of Hamlet will be in mourning and will be remembering the victims and their Families. I will be visiting the site as well.

[pereirapauladeaquino]

Does anybody know anything about the owner of the plant? I know he was released after a few years in jail. But what is he now? Does anybody know?

[ridder6689]

Hamlet must Never be forgotten,I first became aware of the disaster 4 years ago while researching on some of the worst industrial accidents in history,This one seemed kind of special to me the whole boarded windows and locked doors thing That was just plain stupid for the owner to do such a thing,I located and marked the memorial on Googles Earth its a wounderful little spot now,From my little desert town in southern california to yours, people of Hamlet you have my deepest condolences.

[driloc]

Lost two friends in the fire, couldn't tell you how many other friends were affected by it. I know firefighters to this day that won't fry chicken in their homes, due to the memories of that fire.

[bubbaten199]

Very nicely done and nice commentary - thanks.