Chemical-tank failure at Longview packaging facility leaves one dead, nine unaccounted for; officials say no known community threat

Longview fire and state officials said on March 26 that a failure of a large chemical tank at a packaging facility in Longview has left one person dead, 10 people transported to area hospitals and nine facility employees unaccounted for, while the site remains unstable and recovery operations are being carefully staged.

Scott Goldstein, fire chief with Kalis II Fire Rescue, told reporters the initial alarm came at about 7:15 a.m. after a tank containing a caustic industrial chemical used in papermaking ruptured, and he said the tank now being described is approximately 900,000 gallons in capacity with an estimated 90,000 gallons possibly remaining. "At this time, we state there's no direct threat to the surrounding community," Goldstein said, adding that responder and plant safety are the highest priorities.

Battalion Chief Matt Amos of the Longview Fire Department said emergency responders confirmed that 10 individuals were transported to area hospitals — described in the briefing as eight employees and one firefighter among them — and that officials have confirmed one fatality. "Officials can also confirm that there's currently nine employees who remain unaccounted for," Amos said. He said recovery operations would focus on safely accessing affected areas, recovering victims and supporting impacted families, and that recovery efforts were planned to resume the following morning once conditions allowed. Amos said officials expected to provide an update at 10 a.m. March 27.

Gov. Bob Ferguson said state agencies — including the Emergency Management Division, the Department of Ecology, Labor and Industries and the Department of Health — have mobilized to support local responders. "We will be here as long as it takes," Ferguson said, adding that National Guard teams and federal partners are assisting with air monitoring, mass decontamination and contaminated-environment search and recovery.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who attended the briefing, said federal officials including the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Coast Guard were involved or available to help and pledged to press for answers about how the incident occurred. "This community deserves that," she said.

Reporters asked officials about public-health risks and the fate of the tank's contents. Goldstein said an on-site water-main rupture and fire-suppression water combined with the released product and that much of the dispersed liquid has remained on site; site operators and state agencies are conducting air monitoring and water sampling. Battalion Chief Amos described the chemical — repeatedly called "white liquor" during the briefing — as highly caustic, with a high pH that can cause second- to third-degree burns on contact and irritate airways in concentrated plumes. He also said some personal protective equipment used in initial rescues was damaged by exposure.

Officials emphasized they do not yet know how the tank failed and that a formal technical investigation will follow. "We're not stating that it was an explosion or implosion," Goldstein said. He said the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and other investigators will evaluate the sequence of events to determine what happened.

Mayor Eric Halverson and members of the local and state delegation urged patience and community support for families. Officials said family notification had been completed earlier in the day and that a family-support facility had been set up by local industry for relatives. They also asked the public to stay away from containment areas, specifically the dikes and ditches from Prudential Boulevard to Washington Way, while sampling and mitigation continue.

The briefing ended with officials reiterating that overnight work would be limited for safety and that stabilization and planned product removal would begin the following morning. Officials scheduled the next public update for 10 a.m. March 27.

Note on naming in the transcript: the facility is referred to in different parts of the transcript as "Nippon Dynaway" and "DynaWave"; this article uses the transcript's phrasing and attributes all facility identification to the briefing itself.