West Coast chemical plant explosion results in multiple injuries

A massive chemical explosion has rocked a small city in Washington state, leaving multiple people injured.

The blast was heard across Longview, about 50 miles north of Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company.

Officials say an implosion from a vat of chemical treatment caused the blast around 7:18 a.m., inflicting chemical burns and other injuries on several people.

“Multiple people suffered chemical burns and other injuries and were transported by ambulance to PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview and PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. The extent of the injuries is not fully known at this time,” the Longview Fire Department wrote on Facebook.

It’s unclear how severe the injuries are.

There is no immediate threat to the public, officials said. Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility is a paper mill with 550 employees that makes “around 280,000 tons of bleached liquid packaging paperboard, and wetlap and slush pulp” each year, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology.

The company says its products “are converted into eight billion single-serve containers per year.”

A fire crew and hazmat team are on-site at the mill “to mitigate the product and container involved.”

The Washington explosion prompted a response from five fire engines, seven ambulances, and the hazmat team. Residents were previously told to stay away from the site of the explosion.

A multi-day fire broke out at the same paper mill in 2023, according to KCBY.

The explosion comes as Orange County deals with an ongoing chemical tank crisis that forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the county as a chemical tank containing thousands of gallons of methyl methacrylate uncontrollably heated up, before officials were able to halt the temperature climb. Officials at one point planned for a large blast radius and a huge chemical spread before the situation took a positive turn.

President Donald Trump also granted a federal emergency declaration, unlocking assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Officials have cautioned that evacuation orders remain in effect as environmental and public health risks are still being monitored. Some residents have been allowed to return home as the evacuation radius has been narrowed,

More than 785 state and local emergency personnel have been mobilized during the response, including firefighters, hazardous materials experts, environmental scientists, transportation crews, law enforcement officers, and public health officials working around the clock.

The company behind the tank, UK-based GKN Aerospace, is under intense scrutiny for the incident. They apologized for the “uncertainty” the incident caused and the “ongoing disruption” to the community.

Orange County Rep. Derek Tran has called for a “deep investigation” into the company, and several law firms have said they will seek class-action suits to compensate victims.

A Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility employee told The California Post that they had “no information” at that time to provide when contacted for comment.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters