Two Dead, Seven Responders Among the Injured after Chemical Reaction at Kanawha County, WV, Plant

Rick Steelhammer

The Charleston Gazette-Mail, W.Va.

(TNS)

Two chemical plant workers are dead, one is critically injured and as many as 20 other individuals — including seven emergency services workers responding to the incident — were either treated, examined or admitted to area hospitals after a “violent chemical reaction” took place at the Catalyst Refiners Inc. plant at Institute shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Kanawha County officials.

Kanawha County Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said the accident occurred as a crew at the plant was in a building, cleaning out the contents of a chemical storage tank as part of a process to decommission the unit when the reaction occurred, exposing the workers to fumes containing nitric acid, hydrogen sulfide gas and another chemical compound.

Sigman said workers at the plant put on respirators, pulled their injured colleagues out of the building and quickly contacted authorities.

“When I got to the scene, our personnel were already administering CPR to the injured employees,” Sigman said.

Some of the workers exposed to the chemicals were decontaminated near the scene, where they removed their clothes and were hosed down by fire trucks, while others were taken by ambulance, or Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation buses, to area hospitals for examination, treatment or admission.

According to the website of the plant’s parent company, the Ames Goldsmith Corporation of South Glens Falls, New York, Catalyst Refiners processes spent catalyst material used in the manufacture of of ethylene oxide in order to capture and refine silver used in the manufacturing process.

By 10 a.m., a shelter-in-place advisory was issued for those living and working within a 1-mile radius of the plant, which included West Virginia State University. W.Va. 25 was shut down between the university and its intersection with Goff Mountain Road. By 2:20 p.m., the shelter-in-place order was lifted, although W.Va. 25 in the vicinity of the plant, located at 1580 First Ave. ( W.Va. 25), at Institute, remained closed until around 4:30 p.m., when the shelter-in-place was lifted for the last area affected by the order.

“As far as I know, no citizens were affected by the incident,” Sigman said.

Ongoing investigation at the site

“An active and developing situation remains at the site” until hazmat teams arrive to assess what risks may remain at the plant, Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference, adding that “at this time, we’re not releasing any names” of the dead and injured.

Salango said state, local and federal authorities, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Chemical Safety Board, will investigate the incident. He said updates on the explosion will be posted on Kanawha County’s Facebook page, along with the Facebook pages for Kanawha County Emergency Management and Metro 911.

The last Kanawha Valley chemical plant incident to result in a fatality took place in December 2020, when an explosion at the Optima Chemical facility on the Chemours Co.'s site in Belle left one worker dead and three others injured.

Reaction and explanation

“Ames Goldsmith is working closely with local, state and federal agencies to determine the cause of the incident, which appears to have resulted in the creation of chemical fumes within a building at the facility,” company president Frank Barber said in a statement. “The fumes were contained within that one building. Other Catalyst Refiner employees are being evaluated at area hospitals as a precautionary measure.

Dr. Tom Takubo, a pulmonary physician working in the ICU department at WVU Medicine | Thomas Hospitals in South Charleston on Wednesday, said nitric acid can cause severe breathing problems in those affected.

Nitric acid “can coat the lungs” and cause inflammation, “making it difficult to breathe,” Takubo said. It presents as a type of “bad asthma,” he said, that usually will get better with time but can be treated with steroids. A ventilator is an option, but no patients that Takubo was aware of required that.

Barber also said in his statement:

“Ames Goldsmith Corp. is deeply saddened by the deaths of two of our colleagues as a result of an industrial accident at our Catalyst Refiners plant in Nitro, West Virginia, this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families. We are grateful for the immediate and highly professional response of local emergency responders and the health care providers at area hospitals. They are a credit to Kanawha County.”

Local hospital staffs received patients

"Our incident command unit is set up, and we are actively receiving patients," said Kristin Margolin Anderson, vice president of marketing and philanthropy at Thomas, at around 11:30 a.m.

Four patients were admitted Wednesday morning to the South Charleston hospital. One was released later on Wednesday.

Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center was also treating several patients affected during the incident who were experiencing respiratory problems, including coughing, shortness of breath, sore throats and itchy eyes, according to a hospital spokesman.

Schools temporarily locked down

Shelter-in-place procedures were initiated at eight Kanawha County public schools early Wednesday but were lifted by 11:45 a.m., according to Kanawha County Schools spokesman Chris Williams.

None of the schools were located within the 1-mile radius in immediate proximity to the chemical plant but were close enough for emergency personnel to recommend sheltering in place.

The affected schools were:

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St. Albans High School

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Albans Elementary School

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Ben Franklin Career Center

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Dunbar Primary School, intermediate and middle schools

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Nitro Elementary School

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Nitro High School

Other agencies involved

The West Virginia Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Management Division, the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Protection coordinated with Kanawha County Emergency Management to address the incident, according to a news release from Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s Office.

The Nitro Police Department and other local agencies assisted with traffic control. Sigman said the South Charleston Fire Department helped run the decontamination unit on W.Va. 25.

About the chemical company

Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners, according to its website, it refines ethylene oxide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says acute exposure to ethylene oxide “can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and damage the brain and nervous system.”

© 2026 The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, W.Va.). Visit www.wvgazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.