Shelter in Place Lifted in South Charleston After Chlorine Incident at Solenis Plant

UPDATE, 2:51 p.m.: The shelter in place has been lifted, according to Kanawha County Metro 911. Folks in the affected area are free to go about their afternoon. No injuries were reported and all plant employees were accounted for.

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Folks in part of South Charleston were asked to stay put indoors Wednesday afternoon after a chemical incident at the Solenis plant along MacCorkle Avenue sent a heavy cloud into the air near town.

Kanawha County Metro 911 ordered a shelter in place for the area from F Street to C Street and from First Avenue to Seventh Avenue. South Charleston Middle School falls inside that zone and is included in the order.

South Charleston Fire Chief Virgil White said the incident involves a 55-gallon drum of chlorine, with a heavy cloud coming from the Solenis facility. Kanawha County emergency management officials said the problem is connected to the decomposition of dried bleach, and that the company asked for the shelter-in-place advisory as a precaution. The incident was first reported at about 1:54 p.m.

The good news so far: Chief White said no injuries have been reported and all employees at the plant have been accounted for. Multiple emergency crews were sent to the scene.

The Solenis site, formerly known as the Clearon plant, sits along MacCorkle Avenue (U.S. Route 60) not far from the Interstate 64 exit. The facility makes chlorinated dry bleach compounds used to treat water in pools, spas and similar products.

What a shelter in place means for you

If you live, work or have kids at school inside the affected area, here is the standard shelter-in-place guidance to keep in mind for any future order:

• Get inside and stay inside.
• Close and lock all windows and outside doors.
• Turn off heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems, including fans that pull in outside air.
• Stay off the roads in the area so emergency crews can work.
• Keep a phone or radio handy and follow instructions from Kanawha County Metro 911 and local emergency officials.

Parents of South Charleston Middle School students should watch for official word from the school and county emergency officials on pickup plans rather than heading into the shelter zone.

South Charleston has a long history alongside the chemical industry that helped build this stretch of the Kanawha Valley, and neighbors here know the drill when the call goes out. Check on elderly neighbors by phone, keep pets inside, and lean on each other the way West Virginians always do.

Kanawha County Metro 911 lifted the order at about 2:51 p.m., roughly an hour after the incident was first reported.