{"id":667748,"date":"2026-05-27T09:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/667748\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:05:18","slug":"corrosive-chemicals-hamper-recovery-efforts-at-longview-industrial-site-9-still-unaccounted-for-after-tank-rupture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/667748\/","title":{"rendered":"Corrosive chemicals hamper recovery efforts at Longview industrial site; 9 still unaccounted for after tank rupture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to audio from OPB journalists<\/p>\n

This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a major chemical tank implosion at a Southwest Washington paper mill, May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brandon Swanson \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

People walk out in an embrace as they leave the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 Hall, where dozens of family, friends and others gathered in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026, in the wake the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Flowers brought by a local family sit outside the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 Hall, where dozens of family, friends and others await answers about their loved ones after the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a major chemical tank implosion at a Southwest Washington paper mill, May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brandon Swanson \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a chemical implosion that occurred in the morning on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brandon Swanson \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

In this provided image from the Longview Fire Department, a view of a ruptured tank that contained white liquor that imploded at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, Wash., May 26, 2026. <\/p>\n

Courtesy of Longview Fire Department<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

People embrace outside of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Longview Fire emergency responder vehicles sit parked outside of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

People gather outside the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 Hall after the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

People gather outside the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 Hall after the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein speaks to journalists during a press conference about the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion in Longview, Wash., at the Longview Police Department Highlands Station on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Longview Fire Battalion Chief Mike Gorsuch, center, listens to a colleague during a press conference about the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion in Longview, Wash., at the Longview Police Department Highlands Station on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Longview Fire emergency responders drive out of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

The exterior of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. is shown, after a tank containing hazardous liquid imploded, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 in Longview, Wash.<\/p>\n

Claire Rush \/ AP<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Longview Fire emergency responders drive out of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

A Vancouver Fire Hazardous Materials crew drives into Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

Yellow colored smoke comes out of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

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Showing image 1 of 18<\/p>\n

A Vancouver Fire Hazardous Materials crew drives into Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

\uf054<\/p>\n

At least nine people are still unaccounted for after a chemical tank ruptured at a Southwest Washington paper mill, killing at least one person and injuring nine others.<\/p>\n

A 900,000-gallon tank holding white liquor, a corrosive compound used in the paper-making process, ruptured at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, Washington, early Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n

As evening fell, rescue workers suspended recovery operations at the facility due to the ongoing threat of exposure to corrosive chemicals. <\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the instability of the site, some areas remain inaccessible at this time,\u201d Longview Fire Department battalion chief Matt Amos said late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The tank\u2019s structural instability creates a dangerous situation for emergency responders, officials said, in part because they estimate it still holds a potential 90,000 gallons of white liquor. Despite these ongoing risks, community leaders were quick to add there was no danger to the industrial city of 115,000 that sits along the Columbia River, but asked people to stay clear of dikes and ditches nearby due to possible contamination. <\/p>\n

As Longview and Cowlitz County firefighters worked to stabilize the site throughout the day, new details about the scope of the emergency came to light. The tank was 10 times larger than first responders initially stated, and on Tuesday evening, fire department officials referred to the tank rupture as a \u201cfailure\u201d after previously calling the incident an \u201cimplosion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact toll of the incident is not yet clear. Multiple people were transported to regional hospitals, including one firefighter who has since been treated and released. Some employees of the paper mill were still unaccounted for as of Tuesday evening; Longview Fire Department officials said all the impacted families have been notified.<\/p>\n

The mill in Longview, which has about 1,000 employees, is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Group<\/a>, a major global pulp and paper products company. The Nippon Dynawave office in Longview declined to comment on the incident. OPB has yet to hear back from its parent company.<\/p>\n

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said the state\u2019s emergency resources are assisting with recovery efforts, including divisions of the Washington National Guard. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be here to do everything we can to help with the situation and we\u2019ll be here as long as it takes,\u201d he told reporters Tuesday evening in Longview.<\/p>\n

A shaken community<\/p>\n

Little is known about the cause of the tank failure and the scope of the injuries as concerns mount about those who still remained missing. <\/p>\n

Firefighters first received reports about an \u201cimplosion or explosion of a tank with three burned and one missing\u201d around 7 a.m. Tuesday, Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People walk out in an embrace as they leave the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 Hall, where dozens of family, friends and others gathered in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026, in the wake of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical implosion.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work on site. It is something that is impactful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cowlitz County officials directed relatives of Nippon Dynawave employees to a \u201cfamily assistance center\u201d at the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers union hall in Longview.<\/p>\n

Many cried as they filed in and out of the assistance center, which was staffed by social workers, emergency responders and law enforcement. Some people came just to leave flowers. <\/p>\n

Crystal Moldenhauer, a former Longview School Board member, said she lost a friend in the incident and is concerned about others she knows who work at the paper mill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are just friends for me. It\u2019s numbing. But these wives of these men, I can\u2019t even describe how much pain they are in right now,\u201d Moldenhauer said. \u201cAnd now having to explain to their children that someone\u2019s not coming home.\u201d<\/p>\n

PeaceHealth spokesperson Jim Murez confirmed to OPB that at least one person died. No other fatalities have been confirmed, but earlier in the day, Longview Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Gorsuch described the site of the incident as a \u201cmass casualty scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Longview<\/p>\n

Longview Fire emergency responders drive out of Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. after a chemical implosion early in the morning at the Longview, Wash., facility on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Eli Imadali \/ OPB<\/p>\n

PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview received nine people hurt in the incident. Six were in fair condition and two have been transferred elsewhere, Murez said mid-day Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries, one of the agencies involved in Tuesday\u2019s response, has inspected the Nippon Dynawave plant three times over the past five years. The state agency has cited the facility for violations, but all were unrelated to storage safety or chemical processing.<\/p>\n

Many community members have been shaken by news of the disaster. Hundreds of people gathered at R.A. Long Park in Longview for a vigil Tuesday evening. Local faith leaders led the crowd in prayers and ended the candlelight gathering with the hymn Amazing Grace. <\/p>\n

Safety history<\/p>\n

The Nippon facility makes liquid packaging board \u2014 like what\u2019s used for milk cartons \u2014 as well as pulp, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.<\/a> Nippon purchased the mill<\/a> from Weyerhaeuser in 2016 for $285 million.<\/p>\n

Although the Washington Department of Labor and Industries\u2019 past inspections have not found violations clearly related to Tuesday\u2019s incident, the agency has issued fines against the Nippon Dynawave plant for other concerns.<\/p>\n

\"Nippon<\/p>\n

Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brandon Swanson \/ OPB<\/p>\n

The company was fined $700 after state inspectors found a platform higher than four feet lacked protective guardrails. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was fined $2,700 because not all employees wore required face coverings.<\/p>\n

Last year, a worker lost a finger. The state cited Nippon Dynawave for failing to keep equipment in place until an inspector could arrive on site and investigate.<\/p>\n

Regulators didn\u2019t issue a fine after that incident. The agency\u2019s spokesperson Matt Ross said there were also two ongoing inspections at the Longview facility.<\/p>\n

One involves a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank. The other was opened this month after a complaint about a sinkhole, which was created by a failed drain. Both were reported to the state anonymously, Ross said, and were unrelated to Tuesday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the first responders have done what they need to do, our role will be to find out what happened, why, and how we stop it from happening again,\u201d Ross told OPB. \u201cInspections can take up to six months, with results released after that work is done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state Department of Ecology, which regulates air and water quality for the facility, is investigating any environmental consequences of the tank rupture.<\/p>\n

The agency is not associated with regulating the Nippon tank involved in the incident.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – Steam is seen at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company plant, which manufactures liquid packaging board, in March, 2024, in Longview, Wash. <\/p>\n

Jenny Kane \/ AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have any recent environmental penalties from Ecology,\u201d agency spokesperson Brittny Goodsell told OPB. \u201cNothing in their compliance history points to a current issue either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nippon did report to the agency that white liquor was involved in the tank rupture and may have spilled into a nearby drainage ditch. That spill is a violation of the water quality permit the company holds with the department.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously in that instance, they weren\u2019t able to treat anything beforehand,\u201d because of the nature of the incident, Goodsell said. \u201cThe facility did what they needed to do by letting us know about it as soon as they could.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Those next steps could take time as first responders still work to bring the scene under control. Officials said they would provide their next update sometime Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to audio from OPB journalists This is a developing story and will be updated. Showing image 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,291632,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-667748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-southwest-washington-public-safety","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}