Brothers in Longview mill disaster grew up, worked and died together
LONGVIEW - More than 500 people gathered Saturday to pay their respects to two brothers who grew up together, graduated from the same technical school, worked together at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, and died there in May in the worst industrial accident in modern state history.
Tyler and Brad Covington were two of 11 workers lost May 26 at the company's Longview facility after the failure of a tank holding 600,000 gallons of a caustic chemical known as white liquor.
At Saturday's service at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, a cousin of the brothers' mother, Cooper Ericksen told of their close lives together: Both were born in Olympia and mostly raised in Castle Rock, with each going on to attend Perry Technical Institute and work at the mill. Tyler became a welder, while Brad worked as an electrical and instrumentation technician.
Yet Saturday's remembrances also played on Tyler and Brad's differences.
Pastor Patrick Jones described Brad, 27, as the thrill-seeker: It seems Brad would be totally comfortable taking a Polaroid picture upside down at 600 miles per hour."
Jones described Tyler, 29, a young father, as more cautious: "Tyler poured every ounce of his love into building a life with a family."
But they shared plenty in common with their colleagues, said Jones, who at one point in the service slowly walked a line of 11 candles, lighting each as he named the 11 who were lost.
"Brad and Tyler and the other nine, they went to work that day the same reason they went to work every day: They loved their families, they loved seeing their friends and they loved what they did," Jones told those gathered.
After the service, a communal meal was scheduled, along with a motorcade of classic cars to honor the brothers' love of automobiles.
Workers injured during the tank failure, like Kurt Droese, are still recovering, according to a news release last week by the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers.
"Kurt is facing a long, difficult, and painful recovery from his injuries," according to a statement from the union, which represents mill workers. "Kurt has shown incredible courage in doing his best to heal and to maintain a positive outlook despite his life-altering injuries. Although facing numerous challenges, Kurt is making progress in his recovery.
By the start of the month, emergency workers had removed the last of the liquid from the failed tank, according to a news release by the incident command. That involved pumping out about 12,000 gallons of remaining white liquor, which was disposed of by the company's water treatment facility on the campus.
Multiple state and federal investigations are now underway to determine the exact cause of the disaster, though officials have said it will be months before any of the reviews are concluded.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board anticipates releasing an investigation update before September's end, according to the news release, with a full report likely next spring.
The state Department of Labor & Industries by law must complete its investigation and its findings by Nov. 22, and the state Department of Ecology is also investigating.
Earlier this month, the state attorney general's office announced it had been authorized to investigate and given concurrent jurisdiction, along with the Cowlitz County prosecutor's office.
"Our office has unique expertise and resources, and we are ready to answer the call from local law enforcement when they need our assistance in complex cases," said state Attorney General Nick Brown in a news statement July 1. "Washington deserves a thorough investigation to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again."
In the wake of the Longview tank failure, federal regulators have ordered the removal of toxic chemicals at a different site, a shuttered pulp mill owned by a different company in Grays Harbor County. Chemical tanks at Cosmo Specialty Fibers that have been leaking must start being emptied by the end of the month, regulators have said, or the Environmental Protection Agency will step in.
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