At least one person is dead and multiple people have been injured in a major chemical tank implosion at a Southwest Washington paper mill Tuesday morning, according to local officials.
The exact toll of the implosion is not yet clear. Multiple people were transported to regional hospitals, including one firefighter.
The Longview Fire Department confirmed the implosion at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company caused “fatalities” and “critical injuries.” PeaceHealth spokesperson Jim Murez confirmed to OPB at least one person has died.
PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview received nine people hurt in the incident. Six are in fair condition and two have been transferred elsewhere, officials said.
A Legacy Health spokesperson confirmed it is caring for patients from the incident at its Legacy Oregon Burn Center, the only specialty burn clinic in the region.
About 1,000 people work at the site, in a region of about 100,000 residents. Many community members have been shaken by news of the disaster, Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said Tuesday afternoon.
“The people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work on site. It is something that is impactful,” Goldstein said.
The injuries were caused when a 80,000-gallon chemical tank imploded, he said. The tank was roughly 60% full at the time.
The Washington Department of Ecology regulates air and water quality for the facility. Spokesperson Brittny Goodsell said the agency is not associated with regulating the tank involved in the incident.
“They [Nippon] don’t have any recent environmental penalties from Ecology,” Goodsell told OPB. “And nothing in their compliance history points to a current issue either.”
Nippon did report to the agency that the white liquor involved in the implosion may have spilled into a nearby drainage ditch. That is a violation of the water quality permit the company holds with the department.
“Obviously in that instance, they weren’t able to treat anything beforehand,” because of the nature of the incident, Goodsell said. “The facility did what they needed to do by letting us know about it as soon as they could.”
The spills team with the department will evaluate the impact on the ditch, she said, and work with the company to figure out next steps.
There are no threats to the city or surrounding areas, Longview Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch described the site of the implosion on Industrial Way as a “mass casualty scene.”
Multiple people experienced chemical burns and inhalation injuries, although it was not immediately clear how many people were hurt or how serious the injuries were, Gorsuch said. He said first responders decontaminated people and took them to nearby medical centers.
Firefighters asked people to stay away from the site of the implosion, which was first reported at 7:19 a.m.
Regional hazardous materials crews are on the scene after the large supply tank at the mill imploded, Gorsuch said. “This could probably be an all-day process for us.”
The response might also last overnight, said officials, who plan to offer another briefing at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The mill in Longview is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Group, a major global pulp and paper products company.
Nippon purchased the mill from Weyerhaeuser in 2016 for $285 million.
The facility makes liquid packaging board — like what’s used for milk cartons — as well as pulp, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
The mill makes about 280,000 tons of bleached liquid packaging paperboard and wetlap and slush pulp each year.
The Nippon Dynawave office in Longview is not commenting on the incident. OPB has yet to hear back from its parent company.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story, and will be updated.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.