Survivor Tells Panel of Screams for Help in Plant Fire

Loretta Goodwin, who survived last week’s deadly fire at a North Carolina chicken processing plant, on Thursday recalled the screams of a co-worker trapped by a locked door: “Somebody let us out of here . . . . We’re going to die!”

Goodwin, testifying before Congress about the Sept. 3 fire that killed 25 people, said she first knew something was wrong at the Imperial Food plant in Hamlet, N.C., when she “saw those ladies running.”

“They were just screaming and hollering . . . . I started running, too,” Goodwin said.

When they reached an exit, the workers found the door locked, and Goodwin remembers the screams of one woman: “We’re trapped in here! We’re gonna burn up!”

Workers cried out, hoping that someone outside could help them escape from the flames and blinding black soot, she said.

“They were still hollering at the door . . . . ‘Somebody let us out of here, somebody let us out of here! We’re going to die.!’ ”

Before the House Education and Labor Committee hearing was over, Rep. William D. Ford (D-Mich.) threatened to strip authority from the 21 states, including North Carolina, that have responsibility for enforcing federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws.

That would put the OSHA burden back on the federal government, which enforces laws in the 29 states that do not have state plans.