Efforts continued overnight into Monday morning to stop a chemical tank from exploding in Garden Grove, a suburb of Orange County, California, as workers aimed to avert a potential disaster.
The situation, described as “critical,” prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a “state of emergency,” leading to 50,000 residents being evacuated as officials worked to prevent an explosion of pressurized tanks containing toxic chemicals at the GKN Aerospace Facility in Garden Grove.
Orange County Fire Department Interim Chief TJ McGovern stated in an update on Sunday afternoon that firefighters carried out a “tank reconnaissance mission” late Saturday night and found some cracks that might help relieve pressure.
Later, OCFA reported they would conduct an overnight mission to check if the pressure in the tank had decreased, thereby reducing the risk of a major explosion.
“The BLEVE threat is the worst catastrophic event we’ve been discussing. We’re not there yet. We need to conduct this operation tonight,” McGovern remarked.
According to reports, after the tank overheated on Thursday, it cracked over the weekend and began venting vapors, prompting local and state officials to act quickly to prevent a disastrous outcome at the aerospace company’s location.
Atmospheric modeling indicated there was an active leak in the tank as of Sunday night, with no injuries reported so far.
“Firefighters continuously sprayed water on the tank to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, used for plastic part manufacturing,” a spokesperson noted. “Temperatures inside the tanks rose to 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, which was an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius) from Saturday,” Democratic state Sen. Tom Amberg mentioned.
The tanks at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which produces components for civil and military aircraft, contain between 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate.
OC Scanner reported on Sunday night that they had “received information that two of the three tanks at the GKN facility have been effectively ‘neutralized’ and no longer present an explosive threat to the community.”
