In Longview, Washington, there has been a chemical tank implosion at a local pulp and paper mill. As of this writing, there is one reported fatality, and nine workers are unaccounted for. Emergency responders are on the scene.
The implosion of a chemical tank at a pulp and paper mill in Washington state on Tuesday killed one person, and nine others are unaccounted for, authorities said.
Emergency responders were still working on recovery efforts at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, the Longview Fire Department said.
Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein later told a news conference that it was unclear how many workers had been killed. Asked how many remained missing, he replied: “We have information on that, but we’re not releasing that information.”
Not releasing information on the deaths and injuries is not only a procedure, but it's the decent thing to do, honestly.
Among those injured was a responding firefighter. Authorities said some victims had suffered burns or inhalation injuries, and that the severity of the injuries ranged from minor to critical. There was no immediate threat to the public, they said.
The statement, issued more than four hours after the tank imploded at 7:15 a.m., said crews were continuing recovery operations and that no identifying information would be released about victims pending notification of relatives.
While, as yet, there is no known cause, yet, for the implosion, it's a bit of an eyebrow-raiser that this is the second such incident with a large chemical tank on the West coast in the last few days. That's a bit of a puzzler, but we don't know the causes yet, so it's probably too quick to jump to conclusions.
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The tank would appear to have been filled with some nasty stuff.
The 80,000-gallon (303,000-liter) tank that imploded was about 60% full, Goldstein said. It contained a chemical brew known as “white liquor,” a corrosive substance that consists mainly of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide and is used to break down wood to make kraft paper, a durable paper used in packaging, shopping bags and other products.
It was too early to determine the cause of the implosion, Goldstein said.
Sodium hydroxide, commonly known as toxic soda or lye, is a highly corrosive, alkaline substance that rapidly breaks down lipid bonds; that's why it's used in soap-making. It can do serious damage to unprotected skin. Sodium sulfide, also a caustic (alkaline) agent, can cause serious chemical burns and can combine with some acids to produce hydrogen sulfide, which is a highly toxic and potentially explosive gas.
In the unrelated but broadly similar chemical tank incident in Garden Grove, California, about 16,000 people are still under mandatory evacuation orders while containment and cleanup are underway. There are no reports of fatalities or injuries, thankfully, in the Garden Grove incident.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned. We'll be watching and will bring you updates as events warrant.
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