BELLE, W.Va. — Authorities are investigating the cause of a morning explosion at a Kanawha County chemical plant.
The explosion, according to emergency officials, happened in a furnace in the Kureha Unit of the Chemours Plant at Belle.
“They’re down for maintenance and were trouble shooting a furnace and had an explosion,” said C.W. Sigman Kanawha County Director of Emergency Management.
Nobody was injured and no chemicals were involved in the incident. It’s also unclear if the furnace was used to heat the building or used to heat a product produced in the plant. An investigation into the explosion is underway.
Kureha issued the following statement:
Kureha had an equipment failure this morning in equipment used for process heating. This resulted in some damaged ductwork.
Those close to the plant may have heard the noise when the ductwork failed.
There were no injuries, no exposures and no environmental releases.
The equipment was being serviced by the equipment vendor at the time of the failure and the plant was not in operation at that time.
As a precaution, the site alarm was sounded and surrounding community was asked to shelter in place.
Investigation of the cause of the failure has started.