060121 Fire Damages South Carolina Poultry Plant

Hemingway, SC - The House of Raeford, a poultry processing plant in the Indiantown community, will be down for a while following a fire that damaged the production area and resulted in smoke and water damage to the offices.

The fire, of unknown origin, began about 11 p.m. Tuesday, plant manager Gary Van Essen said.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was extinguished by about 2 a.m. Firefighters stayed on the scene until about 5 a.m.

Forty-three firefighters from several fire departments, including those from Kingstree, Stuckey, Johnsonville and Hemingway, were called to respond.

At one point, after the fire seemed to be contained, there was a sudden flash, which blew flames out of the building’s vents and carried the fire into the attic.

“At that point, I thought we’d lost the building,” Van Essen said. “There was no way for the firemen to get into the attic, and our sprinklers were only helping in the lower part of the building. But the carbon dioxide system filled the attic and snuffed it out there.”

Williamsburg County Fire Chief Timmy Godwin said three aerial ladder trucks were on the scene, checking out hot spots.

Godwin said the fire started in the No. 3 fryer, which was in production at the time. During the blaze, a flashover occurred when cooking oil in one of the 700 gallon fryers ignited. The fire was so hot that the roof sagged.

Godwin also credited the carbon dioxide system within the plant for helping to extinguish the blaze.

No one had entered the main area of damage, which was contained to the south end of the steel building, early Wednesday because of safety concerns.

Van Essen said the plant would be put back into production as quickly as possible.

“If there are damaged joists, we’ll have to wait for them to be made and installed,” he said. “We should be back working in three months at most.”

Office manager Sybil Cook said the plant employs about 130 workers from Hemingway, Johnsonville, Kingstree and Andrews.

The Indiantown plant is one of at least seven owned by House of Raeford based in Raeford, N.C. The company processes turkey and chicken meat, making products such as patties, nuggets and corn dogs for the grocery trade and for fast-food chains. All the animals are slaughtered elsewhere, and the meat comes pre-cut to the Indiantown plant.

All the company records that were in cabinets were spared from the blaze, Cook said, but anything not enclosed was damaged. The fire destroyed the company’s phone center, which was based in the most damaged area, so it will take a couple days to bring in new lines. Electricity already has been restored to the offices, but not to the production area.

A few employees were busy mopping, washing and wiping soot from office floors and furniture Wednesday morning.

“We expect to have the offices sufficiently functional to be able to communicate within a couple days,” Cook said.

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