On May 26, 2026, a massive tank imploded at the Longview Paper Mill in Washington, drawing fresh attention to the state's history of sudden, violent disruptions.
On the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, host Andy Murray recalled the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, pointing out that a local photographer "lived quite near Mount St. Helens in, um, Washington State." Murray described how the photographer went to capture the volcano when "it looked like it was having a little eruption as they do, sometimes a little belch," before things took a tragic turn.
While mainstream news outlets focus heavily on the immediate safety hazards of the Longview incident, the comedy-history hosts of No Such Thing As A Fish take a more detached, historical view of Washington's disasters. They find dark humor in the state's volatile geography, contrasting the suddenness of modern industrial accidents with the slow, predictable warning signs of historic volcanic events.
As cleanup crews assess the damage at the Longview mill, expect the podcast world to keep mining Washington's dramatic landscape for stories of survival and catastrophe, proving that the state's volatile reputation remains as active as ever.