Washington state agencies are responding to a chemical tank implosion at a mill in Longview that authorities said killed at least one person and left nine others missing Tuesday.
A chemical tank containing a solution known as white liquor was reported to have ruptured around 7:20 a.m. at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant along the Columbia River, according to the local fire department.
Authorities confirmed at least one person died, and nine employees remained unaccounted for, as of around 4:30 p.m. Earlier, Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein had said “there are fatalities but the exact number is undetermined.” Eight employees and one firefighter were also reported injured.
The Longview Fire Department said there is no immediate threat to the public.
Gov. Bob Ferguson was heading to the southwest Washington mill Tuesday afternoon. Teams from the state departments of Ecology and Labor and Industries were on site. And Ferguson had put National Guard teams on alert, governor’s office spokesperson Brionna Aho said.
“My prayers are with the families of those lost in this tragedy,” Ferguson said.
The state’s Emergency Management Division is “tracking and in touch with the local emergency manager and sheriff,” said Karina Shagren, spokesperson for the state Military Department, which oversees emergency management.
“Ensuring there’s coordination between the locals and state and we stand ready to assist with any resource requests,” Shagren added. Resource requests could include help with evacuations or decontamination, for example.
The facility consists of a pulp and paper mill and a liquid packaging plant. The mill makes hundreds of thousands of tons of bleached packaging paperboard and wetlap and slush pulp each year, according to the Department of Ecology. It has about 550 employees; the liquid packaging plant has roughly 450.
White liquor is a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide as well as other compounds. It’s used in the process of converting wood into pulp to be used as paper.
The imploded tank held about 900,000 gallons of white liquor, according to fire officials. Earlier in the day, authorities reported it had just 80,000. Roughly 90,000 gallons may still be inside the damaged tank.
Fire officials said Tuesday afternoon that the tank remained “unstable, creating hazardous conditions for emergency personnel.” Responders were working to stabilize the site before additional recovery operations, which were paused until Wednesday.
The state Department of Labor and Industries will be investigating after the emergency response to understand how the implosion happened.
A team hadn’t seen any spike in air quality hazards using handheld monitors around the site, said Department of Ecology spokesperson Brittny Goodsell. Another air monitoring team was en route in the early evening, she said.
“We don’t have any indication that there is a threat to the Columbia River or air quality,” Goodsell said.
Labor and Industries 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, an agency spokesperson said. Another ongoing case deals with a sinkhole reportedly created by a failed drain.
Since 2021, the agency has cited Nippon Dynawave multiple times for workplace violations unrelated to chemical process or storage safety.
In 2024, Ecology fined the company $6,500 for two separate permit violations. One was for discharging more solids into its treated wastewater than allowed under its permit. The other was for releasing more-than-allowed sulfur dioxide into the air.
A fire at the mill in 2023 resulted in unhealthy air in the Portland area. Officials at the time determined the fire, which started with wood chip piles, was an accident but didn’t figure out the cause.
State Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, said he can see the mill from his home and spent years working at the facility under a contract with the industrial cleaning company he owns.
“This hurts. The reason it hurts so much is because you see these people every day,” said Wilson, who’s lived most of his life in the city. “What I can do at the moment is just listen and send prayers to all of their families and friends.”
Wilson said he’s prepared to connect residents with resources and support they need. For now, “we have to let the system work” so the community can get answers to how it happened.
“It’s difficult. We’re going to get through this,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray called the implosion “an absolute tragedy.”
“In the days and weeks to come as Longview recovers from this disaster, I will be there every step of the way to support this community however I can,” she said in a statement.
Nippon Dynawave is partnering with the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers to use the union’s hall in Longview as a family assistance center to provide updates and support.
The union’s Local 580 represents workers at the plant. Scott Tift, president of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, was on site Tuesday afternoon as response efforts continued, according to a union spokesperson.
“Our immediate concern remains focused on the affected workers, their families, emergency responders, and everyone impacted by this tragedy. AWPPW continues coordinating closely with all responding partners to support a fully coordinated public information response and family assistance efforts,” the union said in a statement.
A community prayer vigil is planned for 8 p.m. at R.A. Long Park in Longview.
“This incident is a real tragedy. We’re all waiting for investigators to finish their work and determine what happened and why,” said Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, who represents the 19th Legislative District in which the plant is located.
Reporters Aspen Ford and Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report.
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