At least one person was dead and nine others were unaccounted for after an implosion at a manufacturing plant in southwestern Washington, officials said Tuesday.
Local law enforcement, fire department and company officials said in a joint statement that a tank containing white liquor, a chemical used in the paper-pulping process, ruptured early Tuesday at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview.
At least nine other people, including a firefighter, were injured. The severity of the injuries ranged from minor to critical, officials said. Some victims had burns or inhalation injuries.
The Longview Fire Department said Tuesday evening that there was still liquid in the collapsed tank, which was complicating attempts to reach people in the plant.
“The tank remains unstable, creating hazardous conditions for emergency personnel,” it said in a statement.
Officials said that the site would be monitored overnight but that recovery efforts will not resume until Wednesday because of ongoing safety concerns.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson expressed condolences for the people reported killed and injured on social media and said responders from the state Ecology Department had been deployed to the scene.
“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,” Ferguson said.
Eli Bernal said his father, Gilbert Bernal, 52, was killed at the plant, where they both worked.
The family’s pastor, Jim John, said Eli was working at the security gate at the Longview facility during the implosion.
“He was escorting all the ambulances in through the gate knowing his father was in there,” John said.
Patients were taken to hospitals in Longview and Vancouver, according to the statement.
PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center said it received nine patients, including one person who did not survive and six others who are in fair condition.
“There are also individuals who remain unaccounted for as crews continue the accountability and recovery operations. One firefighter also was injured during the response, and he has since been treated and released at our Longview hospital,” Mike Gorsuch, battalion chief for the Longview Fire Department, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Officials said there is no immediate threat to the surrounding community but urged people to stay away from the plant.
A Washington representative for the Association of Washington Pulp and Paper Workers union said he was with workers’ families but declined to comment.
The union said in a statement that its immediate concern is “focused on affected workers, their families, emergency responders, and everyone impacted by this tragedy.”
White liquor
Officials initially reported that the tank had a capacity of 80,000 gallons, but later revised that number to say it was holding about 900,000 gallons of the white liquor.
The chemical brew, which is used in the papermaking process, contains sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate, Cowlitz County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said.
The company’s website says that Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a subsidiary of Nippon Paper Group and that its Longview facility has been making liquid packaging board since 1953.
The facility, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and other goods. The board is used for milk cartons and food containers, among other things.
The company said on its site that it also provides “high quality market pulp” used in pet pads, toilet paper and tissues, printer papers, wrapping paper and more.
The plant is in an industrial zone shared by other timber, paper and chemical businesses, and it remains central to the community.
Previous health and safety violations
Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has been fined a total of $3,400 for three health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online database.
In one inspection, the company was cited because face coverings were not worn by every employee when required. In another, the inspector determined that an employee was exposed to the risk of falling while working on a platform more than 4 feet off the ground without fall protection measures in place.
In the third incident, the department determined that equipment involved in a work-related accident — an amputated finger — was moved from its original position before the state’s investigation into the accident was complete.
Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave on March 4 and May 6. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both are unrelated to the current situation and remain open.
The former was an anonymous complaint about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank, according to the department, which noted that “it was not the tank that imploded.”
The other was opened about a sinkhole created by a drain that failed, according to the department.
