Chemical Tank Implosion Kills At Least One at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington

A chemical tank implosion at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant in Longview, Washington, killed at least one person and left nine others unaccounted for, authorities said Tuesday.

“Fatalities confirmed after chemical tank ruptures at pulp and paper mill in Washington state There is no immediate threat to the public, authorities said”

ABC News

The tank rupture involved white liquor, a chemical used in the paper-pulping process, and it occurred around 7:15 a.m. (07:15 PDT) at the facility along the Columbia River.

ABC News

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said on social media, “I’m deeply saddened to hear that there have been fatalities. My thoughts are with the workers and their families, and with the first responders,” as state agencies deployed to the scene.

NBC News reported that Eli Bernal’s father, Gilbert Bernal, 52, was killed at the plant, where Bernal said his father worked, and that PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center received nine patients after the blast.

At the same time, the BBC said officials had not yet said how many people had died or were unaccounted for, while Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said there were an “unknown number of fatalities at this moment.”

Officials said nine employees and one firefighter were injured, with injuries ranging from “critical severe to minor,” and the company said the rupture resulted in “multiple critical injuries.”

The Longview Fire Department said the scene was stable and in the recovery phase, and it told the public to stay away from the area as emergency responders continued operations.

BBC

PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center said it received nine patients after the blast, including one person who did not survive, and ABC News reported that Legacy Health was treating patients at the Legacy Oregon Burn Center in Portland.

Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein told reporters that “We have information on that, but we’re not releasing that information” when asked how many workers remained missing.

The Washington State Standard reported that Gov. Bob Ferguson was heading to the southwest Washington mill Tuesday afternoon and that National Guard teams were on alert, while teams from the state departments of Ecology and Labor and Industries were on site.

Investigators said the explosion occurred due to a “rupture of a tank containing white liquor,” and the BBC described white liquor as a highly corrosive chemical used in the paper-making process.

“At least one person was killed and nine workers were unaccounted for following the implosion of a chemical tank at a pulp and paper mill in southern Washington state on Tuesday, local authorities said”

CBS News

The Washington State Standard said the state Department of Labor and Industries would be investigating after the emergency response to understand how the implosion happened, and it noted that the agency has an inspection open at the mill related to concerns about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank, not the same tank that imploded Tuesday.

The same report said the facility has about 550 employees in the pulp and paper mill and about 450 in the liquid packaging plant, and it described the mill as making hundreds of thousands of tons of bleached packaging paperboard and wetlap and slush pulp each year.

In addition to the immediate response, the Washington State Standard said the Emergency Management Division was “tracking and in touch with the local emergency manager and sheriff,” and it said resource requests could include help with evacuations or decontamination.

NBC News reported that officials advised there is no immediate threat to the surrounding community but urged people to stay away from the plant, while the BBC said the scene remained in the recovery phase as emergency responders continued operations.