Multiple deaths reported in an implosion at the Nippon Dynawave facility in Longview, which manufactures paper and packaging products.
LONGVIEW, Wash. — A chemical tank implosion at the Nippon Dynawave facility in Longview caused multiple deaths and injuries Tuesday morning.
A liquid supply tank of hazardous “chemical treatment product” ruptured around 7:18 a.m., burning multiple people and exposing others to harmful chemicals. Around 11:20 a.m., officials confirmed multiple fatalities along with critical injuries related to the incident.
RELATED: Multiple people killed in chemical tank rupture at Nippon Dynawave pulp and paper mill in Longview
The Nippon Dynawave facility houses a kraft pulp and paper mill as well as multiple liquid packaging plants and employs approximately 1,000 people. According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, the facility’s pulp and paper mill produces about 280,000 tons of bleached liquid packaging paperboard, wet lap and slush pulp each year.
Liquid packaging paperboard is typically used for beverage containers such as milk and juice cartons but can also be used in other applications due to its strength. Wet lap and slush pulp are products used in papermaking.
According to Nippon’s website, its products are converted into eight billion single-serve containers per year. The facility has operated since 1953 and is a subsidiary of Nippon Paper Group.
This is not the first time emergency crews have responded to the property. Last year, a large industrial fire broke out at a warehouse for Patriot Rail’s Columbia & Cowlitz Railway, which sits on Nippon’s property. In 2023, a fire at a wood chip manufacturing plant on the site sent a large plume of smoke over the surrounding area.
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