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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1562055.html3 unaccounted for in Garner explosion
Published: Tue, Jun. 09, 2009 11:53AM
Modified Tue, Jun. 09, 2009 04:48PM
GARNER -- A major explosion hit a ConAgra food plant where Slim Jims are made Tuesday, sending 41 people to area hospitals, leaving three unaccounted for and filling the air with a thick ammonia scent.
The fire department is still trying to contain an ammonia leak before a HAZMAT team can go into the building, police said.
Garner police are investigating a bomb threat made at the plant on Saturday, said Lt. Chris Hagwood.
The explosion happened on the south side of the plant, employees reported, in a portion known as ConAgra's packaging side. Employees also said workers were evacuated through the south side to avoid the ammonia refrigeration units, which are on the north side.
Workers inside the Jones Sausage Road plant said the boom hit without warning just past 11:30 a.m., blowing open doors, collapsing the roof and shaking the entire plant.
"Everything in that building was moving and all you could smell was this heavy ammonia," said Anthony Spruill, 54, who was driving a forklift about 500 yards from the blast. "The walls of the building flew outward. The roof went straight down. Cars were crushed. The roofs of trailers in the loading dock were blown off."
"I heard one helluva kaboom," said Stephen Downs, 56, who was cleaning offices on the second floor. "I felt the floor flex under my feet."
David Fennell, 20, was working in the stuffing department when he heard a wind rush through the building. Once he escaped, he saw a man on a stretcher with his severed hand resting on his chest.
"Another man must have had ammonia all over him because his clothes were burned off and his skin was green," Fennell said, "and he kept saying over and over, 'Help me. Help me.'"
Garner Police Sgt. Joe Binns said 300 people were in the plant at the time of the explosion, and 41 people have been injured, including three firefighters who suffered ammonia exposure.
Seventeen people were sent to WakeMed Hospital, two with very serious injuries. They were transferred to UNC and Duke hospitals, said a spokeswoman. Patients had injuries ranging from broken bones, burns and inhalation related injuries, she said. She said the hospital was expecting 18 more patients. Among the injured are fire fighters, she said.
Rex Healthcare is treating 18 patients, according to spokesperson Kerry Hekle. Family members of the patients who are being treated at Rex may call 919-784-1525, 784-1884, or 784-3100 to get more information.
Uninjured employees were sent to the Garner Senior Center.
Alrese Holmes would have been working on the first shift during the explosion at roughly 11:30 a.m., but he had taken Tuesday off. He and several co-workers came to the senior worried about a friend who reportedly had to crawl out of the plant.
"She was hurt, but she walked out," said Joyce Thomas of Wendell, speaking of her daughter, Teresa, at the senior center. "Praise God for that."
"I've been calling his cell phone, but it's turned off," said Reggie Neal of Garner, speaking of his friend in the plant. "I'm just hoping he'll show up."
ConAgra spokesman Jeff Mochal in Omaha, Neb., said the plant employs 900 people in three shifts.
"We have crews of people flying down there as speak from Omaha," he said. "Our first and foremost concern is for the safety of our employees."
The plant was cited in August 2006 for not properly training employees about hazardous materials on site, according to the N.C. Department of Labor.
"We issued a citation Aug. 14, 2006, they certified they fixed it Sept. 8, 2006," department spokesman Neal O'Briant.
In all, the company has received six health- and safety-related complaints in the past five years, not an unusually high number for a large facility.
The facility on Jones Sausage Road dates back to the 1960s, when it was originally the production plant for the Jesse Jones Sausage Company.
In 1970, it began producing Slim Jims, following the acquisition of Slim Jim's parent company, Cherry-Levis Co., by General Mills, and then later independent Goodmark Foods. Over the years, the plant was expanded twice by GoodMark and once by ConAgra, said Ron Doggett, who was then a General Mills executive. Originally the plant was about 300,000 square feet.
Now executive in residence for the college of management at N.C. State University, Doggett said Tuesday he was shocked when he tuned into the noon news at his Raleigh home.
"I?m saddned about what?s been happening," said Doggett, 74. "I hope everyone is alive, well and doing well. I?m surprised with an explosion and collapse like this that there aren?t more injuries. It could?ve been a lot worse."
For information on family members, please call 919-350-5105.
