LONGVIEW, Wash. — Flags flew at half-staff Friday over the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant in Longview as a seventh deceased worker was pulled from the wreckage of Tuesday’s implosion.
The plant is still a hazardous environment for first responders working to find the remaining two who are missing. In total, 11 people were killed.
“Everybody is grieving, everybody’s hurting, and we’re all trying to come together to try and help one another in the process,” Scott Tift, the president of the local chapter of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers. Tift has been a mill worker for 30 years in Cowlitz County.
Amid the search for those remains, a community’s search for answers is growing. Tift says federal and state agencies are in the early stages of the investigation, which he will be keeping a close eye on every step of the process.
“We’re here to make sure that the questions are answered that we understand what happened, why it happened, and how we can do better in the future,” Tift said.
More eyes on the investigative process are coming seemingly by the day. Simeon Osborn, a partner with the Seattle-based personal injury firm Osborn Machler & Neff is representing Mackenzie Ammons, the wife of Jared Ammons whose remains were found Thursday.
“She was supposed to meet her husband at the doctor [Tuesday] so that he could see the first ultrasound of their baby,” Osborn said. “She had heard about the incident at the paper plant, so she called his cell phone ten times, and he didn’t answer. She knew something was wrong.”
Osborn told KIRO 7 that, through Mackenzie’s conversations with her late husband, it seemed Jared had known something was wrong at the plant. In reviewing documents and speaking with people who work at the plant, Osborn “believe[s] this was preventable.”
“He used to talk about that, that he was afraid, he actually told her someday. I think somebody’s going to get killed if they don’t get this straightened up.” Osborn said.
Nippon’s Director of Support Services, Brian Wood, answered questions yesterday about workers’ safety concerns.
“We work in a highly hazardous atmosphere and a highly hazardous industry. We approach it with the utmost care in everything that we do. I’ll let the facts speak for themselves,” he shared.
KIRO 7 uncovered several Washington Department of Labor & Industry investigations and violations of its permit through the State Department of Ecology.
On Tuesday, Wood addressed the early steps of the investigation again after being asked by reporters. He says the company is preserving documents and evidence for investigators.
“Our focus remains consistent with unified incident command on the recovery of our employees,” Wood said, “We are cooperating fully with the agencies that have the responsibility to the public to do that analysis.”
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