New video obtained by KIRO 7 News today shows the moment the chemical tank at the Nippon Dynawave Packing plant in Longview imploded. — New video obtained by KIRO 7 News today shows the moment the chemical tank at the Nippon Dynawave Packing plant in Longview imploded.
The video shows a rush of the chemical white liquor escaping the tank, followed by a white plume of a gaseous substance. The liquid white liquor spreads through the facility’s parking lot, while the gas emits from it over the course of the more-than-nine-minute video.
“It was like a tsunami coming out, which isn’t a surprise given we know the vessel was very full and was likely stored at temperature and pressure, and so it’s going to seek exit if given the opportunity,” said Dr. Marissa Baker, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington.
Baker has an expertise on chemical tank safety in workplace settings.
Related to the gasses coming off the liquid and from the tank, she theorizes that is the chemical vaporizing as she says, generally, chemicals are typically stored at higher pressures and higher temperatures in industrial settings.
Because of that, anyone near the tank, which several sources have told KIRO 7 is called the “G Tank,” would have had little time to react.
“It was coming fast,” Baker said. “And would get anybody who was in proximity, kind of as it immediately poured out over them.”
KIRO 7 obtained the video as part of a record request from the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, one of several agencies investigating. The U.S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is investigating at the federal level and the Washington Department of Labor and Industries will investigate at the state level.
Baker says the video will be a piece of the investigation, but that will likely be the extent of it’s usefullness.
“It shows us what happened and, unfortunately, we know what happened as a result. But it doesn’t give us kind of that full systems view.” Baker said.
“It doesn’t show us the inspection logs of the vessel...It doesn’t show us whether or not there was a culture on site of being able to report health and safety concerns,” Baker continued. “Which is the type of thing that labor and industries will be investigating.”
L&I’s investigation must be wrapped up in 180 days, so by late November. CSB’s investigation will likely take more than a year.
Eleven people were killed in the implosion.
Nippon Dynawave Packing announced Tuesday it is beginning to dismantle the ruptured tank. The company did not respond to a request for comment to the video by publish time.