Portions of western Kanawha Co. briefly placed under shelter in place

Portions of South Charleston, Dunbar and other areas in western Kanawha County were under a shelter in place Wednesday morning as a result of a chemical leak. No injuries were reported and the situation appears to be non-threatening at this point.

Clearon Corporation Facilities Manager Scott Johnson says his company produces dry chlorinated bleach for use in pools. He details the chain of the events during the incident.

“At 8:25 Eastern Daylight Time this morning an alarm alerted our management to the release of a small amount of chlorine,” said Johnson.

“The chlorine comes off in a large white cloud. We activated our plant emergency response team and we notified the local fire department.”

Fire Departments from South Charleston and Dunbar and officials from Kanawha County Emergency Management responded to the scene and issued a shelter in place around 9:30 am. It was lifted about 40 minutes later.

Clearon officials and a team from OSHA are on site and investigating the incident.