Fire trucks from Upper Kanawha Valley stations sprayed down a tank at the Chemours’ Belle Plant after reports of an ammonia leak on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025.
A portion of the Chemours Belle Plant is seen in this aerial photo on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. Fire trucks from Upper Kanawha Valley stations sprayed down a tank at the Chemours’ Belle Plant after reports of an ammonia leak on Saturday.
Fire trucks from Upper Kanawha Valley stations sprayed down a tank at the Chemours’ Belle Plant after reports of an ammonia leak on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025.
According to Kanawha County Emergency Management Director CW Sigman, there was a "minor ammonia leak" at the Chemours plant in Belle, located at 901 DuPont Ave. in Belle.
The call about the ammonia leak came in to Metro 911 at around 11:15 a.m. Sigman said the shelter-in-place was lifted at 12:22 p.m. and that there were no injuries in the incident.
The ammonia leak came from a tank operated by Alpharetta, Georgia-headquartered tenant Arclin Chemical Company at its facility on the Chemours complex, Sigman said Saturday. Arclin, which makes polymer technologies, acquired Belle Chemical Company in 2023. Sigman said he didn’t know how much ammonia had leaked, and that the shelter-in-place notice was lifted after the leak was stopped and the odor from it had abated.
In a statement released at 3:11 p.m. Saturday, Arclin said an ammonia sensor indicated a leak was detected at 10:30 a.m. and proper mitigation protocols were implemented immediately.
“These are the types of emergency response measures we train for to keep our employees and community safe,†Alicha Hunt, plant manager at Arclin, said in the statement. “Today our safety measures and sensors worked as designed to alert us promptly enabling us to address the leak.â€
The ammonia sensors are designed to detect leaks “well below†limits that would be dangerous to human health, Arclin asserted.
Arclin did not immediately respond to more specific questions about the incident Saturday, including regarding how much ammonia was leaked.
Arclin’s Belle facility produces methylamines, which are used for agricultural, pharmaceutical and other products. The Belle location employs nearly 60 people, Arclin said.
A portion of the Chemours Belle Plant is seen in this aerial photo on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. Fire trucks from Upper Kanawha Valley stations sprayed down a tank at the Chemours’ Belle Plant after reports of an ammonia leak on Saturday.
