Imperial Sugar Burn Victim Speaks Out

Thankfully all of the patients who were severely burned in the explosion have been released from the hospital but many of them still have a long road to recovery.
News Three’s Alice Massimi spoke with one of the burn victims.

Jamie Butler who worked here with his older brother and his cousin was burned on close to fifty percent of his body.
He says for now he has no desire to return to the plant.
With at least another year of treatment to go he is taking things one day a time.
“The next thing I heard was a big explosion and I saw the fire coming towards me. Next thing I know I just hit the ground; the impact of the blast knocked me down. I got up and there was another explosion so I fell back down,” recalls Jamie Butler.
“I just happened to find my brother and we came out of there together. I don't know how I got out of there though.”
“I remember seeing everybody out there crying everybody was out there hollering and screaming.”
Those were some of his last memories ....his only memories till he awoke three months later.
“I didn’t realize how bad I was till after I woke up and saw a picture. When I looked in the mirror and I could see I was burned real badly.”
Burned on close to fifty percent of his body Jamie has already had numerous skin grafts.
“My legs, my arms burned all the way up to there both of my legs all the way up to my knees,” he says pointing to his the various parts of his body.
Jamie who had been working at the plant for a little over a year is the proud father of two kids.
“I’ve got a little boy he is two about to be three in April and I’ve got a stepdaughter that is six.”
He admits he was afraid of how his son would react to the bandages that now cover his face and arms.
“Alright when I came home my boy was happy to see me. I thought he was going to be rejecting me at first but he was happy to see me.”
It was a light at the end of what has been a physically and emotionally long, long year.
“I just wish that you could erase this year,” says his dad John Senior.
While Jamie recovered from his injuries his brother, John Junior, and his cousin, Alphonso Fields, did not.
He says prayer is what's gotten him through.
“I recall when we had to go in and talk to him and tell him about his brother and that was the hardest thing I could do,” says John Senior.
Through the horror and the sorrow both Jamie and his dad say they've learned not to take anything for granted.
To hold family close and always thank God for what you have.