Crews searching the site of the paper mill explosion this week in Longview, Wash., have recovered six bodies, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight, but the work to find all the missing has been slow because the area around a destroyed chemical tank remains dangerous.
A tank holding 600,000 gallons of “white liquor,” a caustic chemical used in the process of turning wood chips into packaging board used in milk and juice cartons, exploded a little after 7 a.m. Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant.
On Thursday, emergency workers continued to search for the remains of workers caught in the blast, which occurred during an early morning shift change.
Most of the dead and missing were in an area where employees gathered before getting their assignments for the day, said Matt Amos, a battalion chief with the Longview Fire Department.
Firefighters believe there are three more bodies they have not reached yet, making the plant explosion the worst industrial disaster in the state’s modern history. They said the work was arduous because of structural damage to the plant and the mix of water and chemicals standing near the tank. Crews must wear protective gear and undergo decontamination and a health check each time they search. They have not been able to approach the chemical tank itself and can enter the explosion site only a few times a day.
The Longview fire chief, Brad Hannig, said that he knew families of missing workers were anxious for clarity but that recovery crews had to balance that desire for information with the risk they faced.
“It still continues to be a highly complex industrial hazard,” Mr. Amos said. “It’s very labor intensive and takes a lot of personnel.”
Environmental regulators have been monitoring the air around the plant and downwind for dangerous chemicals, including hydrogen sulfide, which can cause nausea and dizziness even at low levels, but have not detected anything that is unusual or cause for concern.
Longview’s drinking water, which comes from aquifers 200 feet underground that are charged by the Columbia River, was not contaminated. But chemicals from the plant did enter the local storm water drainage system and a ditch that sits above an aquifer, and there have been reports of dead fish by a dike near the plant and a stronger-than-usual odor caused by contamination.
City water crews spent much of Wednesday and Thursday flushing water and opening hydrants to push potentially contaminated water out of the drainage system and into the Columbia. Environmental regulators are not worried about contamination in the river because of its size.
“It is safe to swim and fish in the Columbia River right now,” said Brooks Stanfield of the Environmental Protection Agency. “There are no warnings or advisories.”
Around 550 people work at the Nippon Dynawave factory. The plant is not fully shut down; a company executive, Brian Wood, said “critical operations,” such as an effluent treatment system, were continuing. Workers who are not allowed on the site right now are being paid, he said.
