Jury awards $15 million to family of man who died in 2020 Belle chemical plant explosion

KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) — A jury awarded $15 million to the family of John Gillenwater, who died in a 2020 explosion at the Optima-owned chemical plant in Belle, according to the family’s attorney, Scott Segal.

Many of Gillenwater’s friends shared kind words about their friend who tragically died in that explosion in December 2020.

Those friends said at the time that Gillenwater’s volunteering in the community and helping struggling families both financially and emotionally were just a few of his good deeds. In the past, he traveled to countries like Haiti for mission work to help their communities.

Back in July 2023, the Chemical Safety Board released a 129-page report on the Chemours Belle Plant — which used to be the DuPont chemical plant — detailing what happened on Dec. 8, 2020, around 10 p.m.

The CSB called it a “fatal chemical decomposition reaction and explosion.” In a press release, they said the plant, owned by Optima Belle LLC, was dehydrating sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) dihydrate, better known as CDB-56, to make anhydrous NaDCC for Clearon Corporation. The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology said anhydrous NaDCC is used to disinfect water in bulk during an emergency.

When dehydrating in a rotary dryer, one of the compounds began a decomposition reaction, the CSB said. This pushed the dryer past how much pressure it could hold, which caused it to release toxic chlorine gas when it exploded.

The CSB said fragments from the dryer hit a methanol pipe that then caught on fire. The damage was estimated to be around $33.1 million.

The board said the reasons for the explosion were the plant’s lack of understanding of the chemical, that Clearon Corporation did not give the plant adequate safety information, and Optima’s and Clearon’s “ineffective process safety management systems.”

The family in 2020 identified the man who died as John Gillenwater. They said Gillenwater was, “beloved by many in his community and his church.” The Kanawha County Commission at the time said three other people were injured.

A shelter-in-place was in effect as a result of the explosion, which was lifted a few hours later.

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