Nearby resident, Dakira McCray, says "We all ran outside and we just saw this big ball of fire."

After she heard a loud boom from inside her club in Jefferson, she knew something was seriously wrong.

"It was so loud and so strong that it shook our building, the customers, the employees, we were all nervous. We wanted to know what was going on." explains McCray.

Since the explosion at the Bayer Plant was so powerful and considered dangerous at the time, a shelter in place was issued to everyone west of Charleston.

Dunbar residents Cory Kidder and Boo Hager heard the boom all the way in Dunbar and thought it was something totally different.

Cory says, " It sounded kind of like our dryer fell over."

The two immediately began to take shelter in place precautions.

Boo says, "First thing we did is we turned off all the air conditioners then we put towel and covers anywhere around the doorways."

The two guys used to attend West Virginia State which is right down the road from the Bayer Plant and they say this isn't their first scare.

"We actually had a scare in 2003 we were part of in the dorms so we knew chemicals are nothing to mess with" remembers Kidder.