Longview Fire Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

06/10/2026

FALL INJURES WESTROCK CONTRACTOR

Longview, WA.

Longview Fire and Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue (C2FR) were dispatched to the report of a subject who had fallen into a Hydro Pulper Pit at Westrock’s Longview Paper Mill. Initial details described the person was possibly submerged in product produced by the machine.

Crews from Longview Fire Department arrived and performed a reconnaissance mission to determine the scope of the incident. The patient, a contractor, had fallen from an elevated position into a 15’-20’ deep pit. It was determined that the pit had minimal product and was not in normal use. Rescue crews from Longview Fire and Westrock accessed the patient via ladder. The patient was found with moderate injuries requiring him to be packaged in a rescue basket before being removed to safety. Rescue crews worked with C2FR ambulance personnel to transfer the patient to St. Johns Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

No other site workers or firefighters reported injuries.

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Law enforcement has changed the driving route. Please see the corrections below.

Media advisory: Law enforcement es**rt will bring victims home to their families Saturday

The Cowlitz County Coroner's Office will lead a solemn freeway procession on Saturday, June 6, to bring 9 victims of the Nippon Dynawave industrial incident home to their families.

Procession details

The procession will begin when Washington State Patrol joins as the coroner crosses into Lewis County at Exit 88 in Rochester at approx. 4:00 p.m. Please note that traffic will determine the 4 p.m. time estimate; we cannot guarantee the traffic time. Please plan accordingly.

From there, the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office will join at the Cowlitz County line near Exit 57 along with two additional Coroner's Office vehicles. The route will exit at Lexington Bridge Exit 42 and continue south along Westside Highway.

Two victims will not be part of this procession. One of the victims, Dillon Miller, is outside of the coroner’s jurisdiction while the other remaining victim, Gilbert Bernal, was already transported to the Yakima area.

Where can you view the procession?

The procession will cross multiple overpasses on I-5 near and after the Cowlitz County line. These locations will be appropriate spots for the media and public to pay their respects as the procession passes. Locations include any overpass from the entrance of Exit 57 until Exit 42, such as:

Old Pacific Highway overpass between the town of Castle Rock and Vader
Huntington Avenue N. overpass in the town of Castle Rock
Lexington Bridge in Longview

The coroner will drive a marked, silver Chevy pickup with a Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office decal and pull a white, enclosed trailer to transport the deceased.

Please follow traffic safety rules and make sure you don’t block traffic.

Media and the public not allowed at Coroner’s Office

To respect the privacy of families and victims, media and the public are not allowed to be at the Coroner’s Office as the trailer arrives nor are they allowed to follow the trailer after it crosses the Allen Street Bridge in Longview. Law enforcement will be present to enforce this. If media and the public want to view the procession, please choose an appropriate spot.

If you have questions, please email the JIC. We’re continually monitoring the inbox.

Law enforcement es**rt will bring victims home to their families Saturday

The Cowlitz County Coroner's Office will lead a solemn freeway procession on Saturday, June 6, to bring 9 victims of the Nippon Dynawave industrial incident home to their families.

Procession details

The procession will begin when Washington State Patrol joins as the coroner crosses into Lewis County at Exit 88 in Rochester at approx. 4:00 p.m. Please note that traffic will determine the 4 p.m. time estimate; we cannot guarantee the traffic time. Please plan accordingly.

From there, the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office will join at the Cowlitz County line near Exit 57 along with two additional Coroner's Office vehicles. The route will continue to the Kelso area through Exit 39 (Three Rivers Mall exit) and proceed to the Cowlitz County Coroner's Office. Please see the attached map for a visual.

Two victims will not be part of this procession. One of the victims, Dillon Miller, is outside of the coroner’s jurisdiction while the other remaining victim, Gilbert Bernal, was already transported to the Yakima area.

Where can you view the procession?

The procession will cross multiple overpasses on I-5 near and after the Cowlitz County line. These locations will be appropriate spots for the media and public to pay their respects as the procession passes. These include the:

Old Pacific Highway overpass between the town of Castle Rock and Vader
Huntington Avenue N. overpass in the town of Castle Rock
Lexington Bridge in Longview

The coroner will drive a marked, silver Chevy pickup with a Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office decal and pull a white, enclosed trailer to transport the deceased.



Please follow traffic safety rules and make sure you don’t block traffic.

Media and the public not allowed at Coroner’s Office

To respect the privacy of families and victims, media and the public are not allowed to be at the Coroner’s Office as the trailer arrives nor are they allowed to follow the trailer after it crosses the Allen Street Bridge in Longview. Law enforcement will be present to enforce this. If media and the public want to view the procession, please choose an appropriate spot.

If you have questions, please email the JIC. We’re continually monitoring the inbox.

Background

On May 26, local authorities responded to a report of a chemical tank rupture at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, WA. A tank containing white liquor, a chemical mixture used to break down wood into paper pulp, catastrophically failed. The tank’s capacity was 900,000 gallons, and was approximately two-thirds full at the time of failure. There were 11 fatalities and multiple injuries.

Environmental monitoring

After 10 days of stationary and mobile air quality monitoring with no harmful gases detected, community monitoring ended 7 a.m. Thursday morning.

Monitoring will continue along the perimeter fence of Nippon Dynawave 24 hours a day and while contractors continue decontaminating the site. These monitors continue to record zero harmful gases from white liquor.

The process of flushing water through the d**e and ditch system in Longview is now complete. This came after 72 hours of pH testing with no elevated levels, indicating the system is now clear of harmful chemical contamination from this incident.

Fish in the d**e and ditch system that died during the initial release may continue to appear as they decompose and float to the surface; this is normal. Residents can continue to report any wildlife concerns or observations by calling 1-800-22-BIRDS and leaving a detailed message.

Invasive vegetation along the shoreline that came in contact with contaminated water might visibly experience dieback (a slow progression of a plant dying) over the next few weeks. However, this won’t indicate new or ongoing contamination.

Site cleanup status

Cleanup operations continue at the facility. Vacuum trucks with pumps are removing waste and liquid, and they will remain on-site for the foreseeable future.

All material is being disposed of at the on-site wastewater treatment plant.

Workers are trying to minimize how often they move heavy equipment in and out of the site.

Water safety

Despite the presence of dead fish in the ditch network, Longview's drinking water remains safe. The city does not draw or use the water from these ditches for drinking water.

Even though the concern for chemical contamination has passed, residents should continue following the Consolidated Diking Improvement District (CDID’s) guidance that was in place before the incident, and avoid swimming, fishing or engaging in other recreational activities in the sloughs, d**es and drainage ditches. Residents should also keep pets away from these areas.

Fish and wildlife

Crews collected 258 deceased fish yesterday from accessible areas of the ditch systems. These systems are next to the incident response area and are located in west Longview, bringing the total number of fish recovered during the response to 2,902. Our collection efforts focused on accessible areas of the ditch system, including locations where fish accumulated in the waterways.

Deceased fish continue to be visible within the ditch system. Species we collected include common carp, catfish, sunfish, bass, peamouth chub, bridgelip sucker, northern pikeminnow, sculpin, and redside shiner. Crews collected two hatchery-raised salmon during the response.

We are keeping both specimens for further analysis.

Out of an abundance of caution crews also collected a deceased mallard duck for tissue sampling.

The Columbia River remains open for fishing and recreation.