Braydon Finkas has been identified as one of nine people missing after a deadly chemical tank burst on Tuesday at Japan’s Dynawave Packaging Company.
LONGVIEW, Wash. — As the days pass, more names of victims of Tuesday’s attack are being released. Fatal chemical tank ruptures continues to circulate on social media, along with more fundraisers trying to help the victim’s family in the only way many know how.
One of the victims was identified by friends as 37-year-old Braydon Finkas.
Javier Sanchez is a friend of Finkas who lives in Cathlamet. On Thursday, Sanchez described Fincas as “one of the most selfless people you’ll ever meet,” adding that Fincas and his partner, Caitlin, have been together for 14 years. They plan to get married and plan a trip to Italy in a few weeks.
Sanchez said Fincas loved his community and did things to try to help it. He just built he and his partner’s dream home, and now they’re raising money on GoFundMe to try to help caitlin in this tragedy.
Sanchez said the lack of closures makes it more difficult.
“It’s because of the unknown that we have to deal with this difficulty,” Sanchez said. “It’s such an unexpected situation, you never think about going to work and not coming home, especially the way all of this happened.”
He said Fincas was a technician at the plant where he had worked for about seven years.
Fincas is one of nine missing people presumed dead following Tuesday morning’s incident. As of Thursday afternoon, six bodies had been recovered, bringing the death toll to eight.
“We’re kind of at a loss because we really don’t know what’s going on, we don’t have answers, we’re just ‘wait and see what you hear,'” Sanchez said.
It’s unclear whether Fincas’ body has been recovered.
“As each day passes, our hope for the situation becomes less and less,” Sanchez said.
For some in the Longview community, one thing that brings them together is prayer.
Angel Herron, who works at Love in the Name of Christ, also known as Love Inc., explains the impact people feel, even if they have no direct relationship to the victim.
“It’s just heartbreaking for these families… In this small community, everyone knows each other, we all love each other, and we are all praying for these families,” Herron said.
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She said she has a family member who has been working in rehabilitation at the facility.
“One of my family members works at CCS Cowlitz Clean Sweep, and … he was there helping clean up, and it was very scary for his wife and all his daughters as well,” she said. “He showed up after get off work and he said it was very scary. It was very sad for him.”
Herron said she worries about his physical and mental health.
“He was very stoic and it was very emotional for him. He was a soft-hearted person and he loved people and it really affected him,” she said.
Shannon McLain, executive director of the nonprofit Love INC, said their mission is to help mobilize local churches, and in times like this they are doing their best to provide support during this sad time.
“We’re seeing again online churches saying, ‘So-and-so went to my church’ … and the sadness that comes with that,” McLean said.
She said they help connect those seeking volunteer opportunities with churches in need, and she is trying to schedule a conference in late June to bring local leaders and pastors together to provide pastoral support and eventually neighborhood resiliency training so the community is better prepared for possible future tragedies.
“We recognize that there is so much grief that has occurred,” she said.
People can also bring items to the Columbia Heights rally to donate to first responders starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
