On February 7, 2008, an evening explosion and fire rocked the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery plant north of Savannah, Georgia, killing three workers and injuring at least 62. The plant is known in Savannah as the Dixie Crystals plant.

Workers began removing debris from the site the next morning, which was still smoldering at midday. The blast from the explosion was so powerful that it shook homes across the Savannah River in South Carolina. The sugar refinery plant is still unsafe to enter, and debris must be removed with structural engineers’ help.

One possible cause of the explosion, according to Captain Matt Stanley of the Savannah Fire Department, was sugar dust that may have ignited, sparking the blast. While this is rare, it is possible.

“A far as we know, it was a sugar dust explosion,” Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor said, adding the explosion happened in a storage silo where refined sugar is stored until it is packaged.

Sixty-two people were transported to Savannah-area hospitals.

Joyce Baker, a woman who teaches first aid for the Red Cross, said she was at nearby City Hall when the blast occurred, and raced to the scene. Emergency personnel from 12 counties have been called in to help.

“We had approximately 13 men who were coming out [of the plant], and they were burned - third-degree burns on their upper bodies,” Baker said. “And they were trying to sit down and the only thing that they wanted was to know where the friends were.”

Seventeen people had burns over more than 30 percent of their bodies, and were sent to Still Burn Center. An additional eight patients had burns over 60 percent of their bodies.

Medical director at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Dr. William Wessinger, said the victims were mainly burn injuries.

“Many of these also had burns on their face and around their airway which made it very critical,” Wessinger said. “Within a very short time after arrival, a large number of these patients were deemed to have airway problems.”

Out of the 95 to 100 people suspected to be working in the area of the explosion, more than one dozen are still missing.

“We always try to act with hope in mind, no matter what,” Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Michael Berkow said. “But at this point, we expect to find fatalities inside the building. I don’t know how many, but that’s what we expect.”

In the night following the explosion, flames burned and spread from the main building to other parts of the refinery. Firefighters were attempting to prevent this, as other parts of the building holds flammable materials. The sugar refinery explosion comes after the U.S. Department of Labor issues new inspection guidelines in October 2007 for workplaces handling combustible dust particles. This includes sugar dust.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classifies buildings that have a lot of sugar dust as “hazardous locations.” Other plants that receive this classification are coal preparation plants and producers of plastics, medicines and fireworks.

The state Department of Agriculture last inspected the Dixie Crystals plant, located in Port Wentworth, on October 30, 2007. At that time, the plant received two citations for violations: one involved an opening in a packing room area that could allow pests to enter, and the other was related to buckets used for packing molasses in a warehouse not being properly protected.

Sources: “Three bodies found in Georgia refinery blast,” CNN.com, February 8, 2008; “Death toll lowered in Georgia sugar refinery blast; 3 dead, many still missing,” FoxNews.com, February 8, 2008.