The Longview paper mill disaster has grown even more tragic, with a ninth worker now confirmed dead following Tuesday’s catastrophic chemical rupture. On Friday afternoon, recovery crews located and retrieved the body of another employee at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility, raising the official death toll to nine. Two additional workers remain unaccounted for and are presumed to have died.

A Slow and Dangerous Recovery

Officials have described the operation to recover the final victims as both delicate and demanding. Matt Amos, a battalion chief with the Longview Fire Department, acknowledged on Friday that the search could stretch on for some time, calling it one of the most difficult scenes responders have faced.

This incident now stands as the deadliest industrial accident Washington state has witnessed in a hundred years, a sobering distinction that underscores the scale of the tragedy.

Crews have made gradual progress. Using vacuum trucks and hundreds of feet of hose, they have been removing liquid from the site and pushing deeper into the damaged areas. At the heart of the disaster sits a massive 900,000-gallon vat that once held a caustic substance known as white liquor, a chemical essential to the paper-making process.

Air quality readings at the scene have improved, offering responders some relief. Still, teams are keeping a cautious distance from the ruptured tank itself, which may still hold tens of thousands of gallons of the corrosive liquid.

As Amos put it, the work requires extraordinary precision, and the conditions remain punishing for everyone involved.

Preserving Evidence for What Comes Next

While searching for the two missing individuals, crews are also taking care to protect physical evidence. That evidence will become critical once formal investigations begin in earnest after the recovery phase concludes.

Because access to certain damaged sections of the mill remains limited, officials have been unable to predict how much longer the search will take. The uncertainty reflects just how compromised parts of the facility have become.

Containing the Environmental Fallout

Beyond the human toll, the chemical release has triggered a significant environmental response. State and federal agencies have joined Longview officials to address the consequences of the spill, which killed fish in nearby dikes and briefly raised pH levels in the Columbia River earlier in the week.

The good news for residents is that drinking water in Longview remains safe. Chris Collins, the city’s Public Works Director, explained that flushing out ditches near the municipal groundwater wells has been a leading priority, and pH levels in those areas have returned to normal.

However, the situation is not entirely resolved. According to Brooks Stanfield, a federal on-scene coordinator with the EPA, chemical concentrations remain elevated in a handful of other ditches, where the water may appear noticeably darker than usual.

Authorities are urging caution. Courtney Sherad, an on-scene coordinator with the Washington Department of Ecology, advised the public to:

• Stay away from the affected ditches entirely.
• Avoid touching or attempting to collect any dead fish or wildlife.
• Report any affected animals to wildlife officials rather than handling them.

So far, responders have recovered 23 fish from the ditches. Others remain out of reach due to steep, slippery terrain. Encouragingly, Sherad noted that no dead fish have been spotted in the Columbia River itself. With chinook salmon currently migrating upstream, officials have made it a point to protect the wildlife that depends on the river.

Why White Liquor Poses Both a Threat and a Manageable Risk

White liquor is extremely caustic by nature, which is precisely what makes it effective at breaking wood down into pulp. Yet there is a silver lining. As the chemical mixes with natural acids in the environment, it gradually becomes harmless.

This is why officials have focused so heavily on dilution. By flushing out the dikes and ditches, they can significantly reduce any lasting environmental damage. Water diverted from the nearby Cowlitz River has aided this effort, and crews have now begun drawing water from Lake Sacagawea, a man-made lake running through a cherished Longview city park.

Residents should expect to see the lake’s water levels drop noticeably over the coming week as the city continues using it for flushing operations.

Clearing the Path Forward

Some cleanup work has already started at the Nippon Dynawave site, primarily to help recovery workers reach additional areas. According to the EPA’s Stanfield, the broader site cleanup will pick up speed once the final missing workers have been recovered.

A Long Investigation Looms

Once recovery is complete, attention will shift fully toward determining what went wrong. Officials are bracing for an intensive investigation, but the path there is far from straightforward.

When investigators eventually gain full access, they will be entering a hazardous industrial environment, one crisscrossed by power lines and heavy machinery, and severely damaged by Tuesday’s rupture.

Brian Wood, support services director at Nippon, noted that several walls were blown out by the chemical release and that equipment sustained heavy damage. For now, the closest look at the destruction near the tank has come from drone footage, and it remains unclear when teams will secure more direct access.

Wood summed up the moment plainly, acknowledging that the response is still in its very early days. As the community grieves and crews press on, the full story of how the Longview paper mill disaster unfolded will only emerge with time, patience, and careful investigation.