Sugar Refinery Starts Up

More than a year after a deadly explosion, the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth near Savannah is back in the sugar business.
On Tuesday, employees fired up the boiler. They plan to start shipping liquid sugar this week. A week later shipments of crystal sugar will follow.
Back in February of 2008 an explosion ripped through the plant, killing 14 people. Investigators determined the blast was caused by an accumulation of sugar dust that ignited like gunpowder.
The company is in the midst of rebuilding the facility at a cost of more than 200-million dollars. The majority of those costs will be paid by insurance. The company's 350 employees have been working on getting the plant ready. Several lawsuits filed by victims of the explosion are still pending.

One of sugar plant burn victims dies

One of the 17 burn victims of last week's sugar plant explosion has died. 40-year-old Michael Kelly Fields died a little after 2 o'clock this morning at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta. 16 people are still being treated for their injuries at the Center--14 of which are listed as critical.

At the site of the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth near Savannah, workers recovered a seventh body at the scene Wednesday. Fires in the main building of the refinery were put-out yesterday, but flames were still active in the 80-foot tall silos as of late Wednesday. Georgia Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson are calling on the federal government to launch a complete and thorough investigatioin into the explosion from last Thursday.

Lawmakers seek answers in refinery blast

Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss are calling for a federal investigation into last week’s deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth. The blast killed eight people and injured dozens. The senators hope a “complete and thorough investigation” will shed light on causes of the tragedy and ways to improve factory safety.

Fire specialists to attack refinery blazes

Fires that have burned for six days at a Savannah-area sugar refinery will be attacked by specialized firefighting teams today.

Three fires ignited yesterday at the destroyed Imperial Sugar Company plant, due to molten sugar smoldering at temperatures as high as four-thousand degrees. Officials fear a larger blaze could break out again.

The refinery in Port Wentworth exploded Thursday night, injuring dozens. 17 people remain hospitalized at an Augusta burn center--15 critically. Six people are confirmed dead from the blast, while two workers remain missing.

Firefighters still battle sugar fire

A helicopter dumped thousands of gallons of river water onto a gutted sugar refinery. It was trying to douse a smoldering fire that burned more deeply than officials first thought.

But after hours of work, officials made plans to bring in a private fire fighter team to put out the blaze at the Imperial Sugar plant, where six workers died and two remained missing.

Officials say the silos were at temperatures up to 4,000 degrees, and the crews were able to reduce the temperature of molten sugar to about 2,800 degrees.

Seventeen workers remained hospitalized today at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta -- 16 in critical condition with severe burns.

Survivors struggling after refinery conflagration

Seventeen workers injured in the explosion on Thursday at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah remained hospitalized Sunday in critical condition with severe burns. Three others were released Sunday, said Beth Frits of the Joseph M. Burn Center in Augusta.

One of the critically injured, 49-year-old Gene Daniel Bryan Jr., moved his head Sunday in response to relatives, even though he was in a medically induced coma, said his sister, Penny Daley.

Bryan, a supervisor, led several of his employees to an exit but they had to flee down a staircase that was engulfed in flames, Daley said in a telephone interview.

"It's hard to say it makes it all worth it, but I'm just glad to say he was able to help somebody," Daley said.

Sugar that was still burning three days after the refinery explosion that killed at least five people hampered the search for three other workers, missing since the blast leveled portions of the plant.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the chronology of events at the plant since Thursday.

(The Associated Press)

Burning sugar slows search for survivors

Ambulances and emergency workers from 12 counties were called in to assist in the evacuation of the workers injured at the plant. (AP Photo)

Sugar that was still burning three days after a refinery explosion killed at least five people hampered the search Sunday for three other workers missing since the blast leveled portions of the plant.

Crews used construction cranes to shore up three badly damaged, 80-foot storage silos that rescue workers want to search for the missing men. One of the silos blew up late Thursday, possibly after combustible dust ignited.

Mounds of sugary sludge pouring out of the silos Sunday was solidifying, though, creating another obstacle to the recovery efforts.

"You've got three silos down there that are still burning, you've got sugar still burning," said Sgt. Mike Wilson of Savannah-Chatham County police. "As you've got sugar that's crystalizing and running down the chutes, it's like concrete."

Strong wind coming off the Savannah River made conditions even more hazardous for crews trying to prevent the silos and plant buildings from collapsing, Savannah Fire Capt. Mike Stanley said.

"It is a very delicate environment that they are working in. We have a very windy day and a very weak structure and we are trying our damnedest to find the rest of the workers," Stanley said.

Although officials previously said the fire that had raged in the refinery since the explosion was all but extinguished, authorities said Sunday that fires still burned in the silos. Helicopters were to be brought in Sunday to pour retardant to put out the flames, Wilson said.

Rescue workers and company managers were trying to determine where the missing men might be. Officials were focusing on at least three areas of the plant, including the silos.

The search was halted at sunset because the debris-strewn refinery remained too hazardous for nighttime searches. It resumed Sunday morning.

Imperial Sugar was one of the largest and oldest employers in this city of 5,000. The vast refinery was a network of warehouses, silos and buildings eight stories tall connected by corridors of sheet metal.

Twenty workers were hospitalized with severe burns, 17 of them in medically induced comas.
Investigators with the Georgia Fire Marshal's office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board began arriving Saturday.

Imperial President and CEO John Sheptor has said sugar dust in a silo used to store refined sugar before packaging likely ignited like gunpowder. Sugar dust can be combustible if it's too dry and builds up a static electric charge.

Company officials have refused to speculate on when the plant might reopen, saying structural engineers needed to examine the damage.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Imperial Sugar plant disaster.

5 victims found in Imperial Sugar plant disaster

Smoke billows from behind the main plant of the Imperial Sugar Company during a fire at the plant on the Savannah River Thursday Feb. 7, 2008 in Port Wentworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Crews on Saturday found another body in the remnants of the sugar refinery plant devastated by an explosion and fire, raising the death toll to five and leaving three others still missing, officials said.

The body was found near the silos used to store sugar after crews shored up the plant's wobbly remnants, Fire Chief Greg Long said. Three workers and a supervisor were believed to be missing, but it was not clear whether the body was that of a worker or the supervisor.

"We operate on the policy that everyone is alive until we get to them," he said.

The search was expected to be suspended for the night, and resume again Sunday.

Crews re-entered what's left of the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery after stabilizing the upper floors of a four-story building. They needed access to that building to gain entry to an 80-foot silo that rescuers wanted to search for the men, Long said.

Earlier Saturday, Long said firefighters all but extinguished the fire that had raged in the refinery since the explosion, allowing teams to resume searching for the missing men.

"We have an idea of where they are," Long said. "We didn't want to collapse anything."

The chief said he strongly believed the four men — three workers and a supervisor, all of whom Long said he knew personally — were the only people still unaccounted for from Thursday's blast.

Crews brought in heavy equipment Saturday to remove debris as investigators looked for the cause of the blast that ignited a storage silo. At least four flatbed trucks carrying segments of a giant crane and other machinery rolled through the refinery's front gates.

Imperial Sugar was one of the largest and oldest employers in this tiny city of 5,000 just a few miles west of Savannah. The vast refinery was a network of warehouses, silos and buildings eight stories tall connected by corridors of sheet metal.

Imperial President and CEO John Sheptor said sugar dust in a silo used to store refined sugar before packaging likely ignited like gunpowder. Sugar dust can be combustible if it's too dry and builds up a static electric charge.

The result was as devastating as a bomb. Floors in the plant collapsed, flames spread throughout the refinery, metal girders buckled into twisted heaps and shredded sheet metal littered the wreckage.

More than 30 employees were rushed to hospitals. Several were taken to a burn center in Augusta, 130 miles up the Savannah River. Many were in critical condition, including some who were placed on ventilators, said Dr. William Wessinger, the medical director at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah. A spokeswoman from the Savannah hospital said
Saturday that the last of nine workers treated there had been released.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the blast and aftermath.

Perdue 'deeply saddened' over blast deaths (UPDATE)

Smoking ruins of the Imperial Sugar Company, after an explosion last night ripped apart the plant on the Savannah River Friday, Feb. 8, 2008, in Port Wentworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Governor Sonny Perdue, says he and Mrs. Perdue are "deeply saddened" over the explosion and loss of life at the Imperial Sugar Refinery plant in Savannah, Thursday night:

“I want the families of all of those lost, missing or injured to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers. Our emergency personnel responded to the scene, as they always do, with speed and skill and I thank them for their continued dedication as we work to determine what caused this tragic explosion,” Perdue said in a statement released by the Governor's office Friday afternoon.

Update: Crews found the three bodies in tunnels beneath the building, which was reduced to a mass of rubble, twisted beams and mangled metal, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said.

Local authorities said they had not heard of any recoveries.

"We have not had any confirmed deaths yet. I know that for a fact. They are still going through the rubble as we speak," Savanah-Chatham County Police Sgt. Mike Wilson said.

Police Chief Michael Berkow told families of missing workers that rescue efforts at the massive Imperial Sugar Company refinery had shifted to recovery operations hours after the explosion erupted late Thursday. Dozens of the nearly 100 people were working inside at the time of the blast were hurt, many critically burned.

Rescue crews load injured into ambulances for evacuation. (AP Photo)

18 of the injured are being treated at Doctor's Hospital in Augusta, according to latest reports.

Fire officials said they had begun clearing debris so they could move farther into the plant, and predicted the blaze could be extinguished by Friday afternoon. Fire Chief Greg Long said he wasn't giving up hope some of the missing might still be found alive in rooms blocked by debris.

"I have friends that work at this plant," Long said. "I don't want to see a casualty list."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the disaster.

(With the Associated Press)

Savannah refinery blast UPDATE

Smoke still billows Friday Feb. 8, 2008, from a section of the Imperial Sugar Company plant after an explosion last night ripped apart the plant on the Savannah River in Port Wentworth, Ga. Six people are uncounted for and more than 50 people were taken to hospitals, and some of them were airlifted to a burn center in Augusta, Ga., 130 miles up the Savannah River. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Authorities in Savannah say the search for missing people after an explosion last night at a sugar refinery will now turn to recovery.

Savannah’s police chief said late this morning authorities expect to find fatalities inside the Imperial Sugar plant. Early reports indicated there were six people missing—Chief Michael Berkow said there could be more.

More than 50 people are now reported injured from the refinery blast, which occurred a little before 8 o’clock last night in the nearby Savannah suburb of Port Wentworth, along the Savannah River. 18 of the injured were airlifted to a burn center 130 miles away in Augusta--most are in critical condition. An 11:30 news conference was scheduled there for updates.

As of late morning, firefighters were still not able to get inside the four-story refinery building due to fires still burning, and the instability of the structure.


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Authorities suspect that sugar dust, often volatile, may be the cause of the blast.