Hazardous materials workers walk on the scene at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co., where a chemical disaster occurred May 26 leaving at least one dead and nine missing, at the Longview, Wash., plant for kraft pulp, paper mill and liquid packaging on May 27, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The confirmed death toll from a chemical tank rupture in Longview has now climbed to two, officials said Wednesday, with another nine people presumed dead.
“We’re bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said at a news conference Wednesday. “I want to extend my deepest condolences to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of a loved one during this extraordinarily challenging time.”
Early Tuesday morning, a 900,000-gallon chemical tank failed at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. The tank rupture released tens of thousands of gallons of the caustic chemical known as white liquor, which is used to break wood chips into pulp to make paper.
Nine people who were injured as a result of the tank rupture were initially taken to Longview’s PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center.
PeaceHealth spokesman Jim Murez said four of those patients were transferred to other hospitals in the region, including the Legacy Oregon Burn Center, for a higher level of care. One worker was declared dead Tuesday after being taken to the Longview hospital. A second person was confirmed dead Wednesday.
Four patients stayed in Longview and were treated at the medical center. They have now all been discharged.
Nine others remain missing and are presumed dead.
Brian Wood, support services director for Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. speaks at a press conference at the plant in Longview, Wash., May 27, 2026. A chemical disaster occurred May 26, leaving two confirmed dead and nine missing and presumed dead.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Emergency responders paused their work Tuesday evening, citing concerns about the structural stability of the collapsed tank and the ongoing threat that rescue workers could be exposed to harmful chemicals. And while those concerns remain, officials said Wednesday the scene was safe enough for them to begin the process of trying to recover the additional victims from the site.
“As individuals are recovered from the site they’ll undergo decontamination before being transported to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s office for identification and family notification,” Longview Fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said Wednesday. He said the process would be slow as responders treated “every victim with the greatest dignity, care and respect as possible.”
Asked to explain how people went missing, Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said the accident took place just 15 minutes after a 7:00 am shift change at the plant, so there were people in the area. The disaster area included an administrative area, a break room and “operational spaces.”
“They were in their workspaces when this blast occurred,” Goldstein said.
Fire officials estimate the damaged tank still holds as much as 25,000 gallons of white liquor — less than they originally estimated — as it continues to slowly leak out.
Nippon Dynawave is a major employer in the Longview-Kelso area, a heavily industrial city of about 115,000 along the Columbia River.
Brian Wood, director of support services for Nippon Dynawave, made the company’s first public remarks Wednesday. He thanked first responders and the company’s workforce.
“These are our people,” Wood said. “We are focused on our people. We are focused on helping our responders find and recover those people. That is our focus today.”
Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a chemical implosion that occurred in the morning on May 26, 2026.
Brandon Swanson / OPB
‘A very dedicated worker’
Little is publicly known about those who died.
Friends and family confirmed to OPB that Gilbert Bernal, 52, was among the workers killed by the implosion. He was an instrument technician who worked at Nippon Dynawave for more than a decade, they said.
Bernal was proud of his career, having taken night classes while being a father of two and working full-time at a gas station, his daughter Geo Bernal said during an interview. He had worked for multiple companies prior to joining Nippon.
“He always, always talked so highly of trade school,” she said with a laugh. “He was always so disappointed that my brother and I never pursued anything of that.”
Family friend Todd Cornwell described Gilbert as someone who went out of his way to help others.
Gilbert Bernal poses with his grandchild in an undated photo provided by his family. Bernal is among the fatalities at the chemical explosion at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co., in Longview on May 26, 2026.
Courtesy of Geo Bernal
Bernal, his wife and Cornwell attended a weekly bible study together on Tuesday nights.
“We actually had it last night without him and spent the whole time basically talking about how much of an impact he had on our lives,” Cornwell said, describing him as a “very dedicated worker.”
Bernal’s death puts the family in financial straits, Cornwell added.
They’re not going to have any income,” he said. “They still got bills to pay. Food costs, everything else. Electricity, rent; all those things that need to be covered.”
Across Southwest Washington, the scope of the disaster has shaken many people in close-knit communities. Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil at a park in Longview Tuesday night, sharing prayers, songs and somber resolve within one another.
“It is an enormous tragedy, a worst case scenario,” Washington state Sen. Jeff Wilson, who lives in Longview, told OPB’s “Think Out Loud” on Wednesday. “Everybody is going to have a whole bunch of questions, as they should. Every one of those questions deserves to be answered. It’s going to take a little time.”
Wilson, who occasionally worked at the Nippon mill when he ran an environmental business, said the complexity of the industrial site – criss-crossed by pipelines, powerlines and chemicals – presents a challenge for recovery efforts.
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People cry and hug during a vigil for the victims of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. chemical disaster in Longview, Wash., on May 26, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Investigations underway
Local officials are still trying to understand the scope of the environmental impact after testing samples showed some of the corrosive chemical spilled into the Columbia River.
“At this time there continued to be no identified negative health impacts to the city, to the surrounding air quality or the city of Longview’s drinking water system,” Goldstein said.
Officials are still asking the public to avoid the area, as well as the surrounding dikes and ditches, due to possible chemical exposure.
Along with state agencies investigating the tank rupture, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board announced Wednesday it had opened an investigation into what the agency described as “the fatal chemical tank implosion.”
The independent federal agency, which is responsible for determining the causes of catastrophic releases of hazardous substances, sent a team to Longview.
“The CSB is opening an investigation into this tragic incident to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again,” the board’s chairperson Steve Owens said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington’s third congressional district speaks with family members of victims following a press conference at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co., on May 27, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents Longview, said that an investigation is important but should not be allowed to be the “last straw for a viable mill.”
“Folks here have watched mill after mill close across this state, always wondering if their mill is next,” she said. The congresswoman called for a plan to address failures “so we can have safe jobs, come home to our families at night, and rebuild public trust.”
The mill, purchased by the Japanese company Nippon from Weyerhaeuser in 2016 for $285 million, employs about 1,000 people, according to the Washington Department of Ecology. About 550 work in pulp and paper operations, and another 450 work at its liquid packaging plant, making cardboard milk cartons and other packaging.
“We will cooperate to the maximum extent that we can with the investigation,” Wood, with Nippon Dynawave, said. “It is our duty and our obligation to do so. We look forward to a full and complete investigation.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
