One person was treated for chlorine inhalation and state Route 2 was closed for a short time after a small fire at PPG Industries Natrium Plant in Marshall County on Thursday morning.

The manufacturing plant is located on Route 2 near New Martinsville, in an unincorporated part of the county in the Natrium area.

An employee who responded to the fire was treated for chlorine inhalation at the on-site first aid center. No additional injuries were reported.


PPG officials said the fire broke out around 7 a.m. at the calcium hypochlorite facility. A spokesperson for PPG said the facility was immediately evacuated and shut down. The fire was put out about a half-hour later.


The plant has its own fire crew that responded. Crews from other plants around the area also responded as part of a mutual response agreement, according to Marshall County Sheriff John Gruzinskas.

Marshall County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Hart said no local fire departments responded inside the plant because the fire was extinguished by the internal fire brigade. However, local officials took safety precautions in the event something would have happened on a larger scale.

PPG said no off-site environmental or health issues resulted from the fire though PPG's fence-line monitoring has detected chlorine at very low concentration levels. PPG officials stressed that any chlorine levels in the air would not present any health concerns and staff are conducting off-site precautionary measures.


Cal-hypo is used in a range of water treatment applications. It is also an important general purpose sanitizer for swimming pools, waste water, safety and irrigation.

The spokesperson said all appropriate authorities have been notified and the cal-hypo facility remained closed as of Thursday afternoon.


The highway was closed for about 20 minutes after the fire was reported. The Marshall County Sheriff's Office stopped traffic on the southbound lanes, while crews with the New Martinsville Police Department closed the northbound lanes.