HAMLET, N.C. — Remembering a tragedy that rocked a small town — 35 years ago. Thursday marks three and a half decades since a deadly fire that devastated the Hamlet community.
“The lives, the children’s lives will never be the same this county’s lives will never be the same,” said Peggy Roach.
That woman’s sister was one of 25 people who died in a fire at the Imperial Foods plant in Hamlet in 1991.
Channel 9 was there in the hours after the tragedy, speaking to her family and so many others.
On Thursday, Channel 9’s Miana Massey learned the community still feels the loss.
One by one, the names of people lost in a fire at Imperial Foods echoed through this memorial.
The Hamlet community gathered at the site of the former chicken processing plant, 35 years after 25 people died at one of the town’s largest employers.
“Thank you for remembering this tragic day in 1991,” said Pastor Tommy Legrand
For many, remembering is deeply personal.
“It still hurts 35 years later,” said Peggy Roach, the sister of a victim.
Peggy Roach still mourns her youngest sister, Mary Quick.
“She was my ride or die partner … she was the life of the party,” Roach said.
She and dozens of others went to work on Sept. 3, 1991, and never came home.
Channel 9 archive video shows the scene after a hydraulic line ruptured and fire quickly spread.
Some workers were trapped behind locked doors as smoke and flames filled the building.
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“Locked exits, unsafe conditions, and a culture that put profits over people -- those failures had devastating consequences, but the state responded,” said Labor Commissioner Luke Farley.
The tragedy left behind a legacy of change, leading to major safety reforms.
“There’s always bad, but there’s also good that comes out of bad, and there are many lives that have been saved with the reform of workplace safety,” Brian Taylor, State Fire Marshal
The impact of that day will be felt in this community forever.
“The lives, the children’s lives will never be the same,” Roach said.
Thursday’s service was about more than remembering those lost. It honored how they lived, and the 50 other workers who were hurt but survived.
The fire prompted North Carolina to double its number of building inspectors, and businesses are now required to get fire code inspections every one, two, or three years.
The former plant was torn down 10 years later and replaced with this granite marker.
The owner of the plant, Emmett Roe, served four years in jail for involuntary manslaughter. He died in 2018.
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