California: 40,000 people ordered to evacuate over chemical leak fears
Tens of thousands of Orange County residents have been told to evacuate as firefighters monitor a failing chemical tank at a Garden Grove aerospace facility
Authorities in Orange County, California, have ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents due to concerns over a chemical leak that threatens to spill or explode. The emergency began on Thursday at a facility owned by GKN Aerospace in the town of Garden Grove. A storage tank holding methyl methacrylate, a highly flammable chemical used to fabricate resins and plastics, began off-gassing and was described by officials as being actively in crisis as it threatened to fail.[1][4]
The evacuation orders have impacted between 40,000 and 50,000 people in the Southern California area. Many residents were forced to leave their homes on Friday as the threat of a leak from the chemical storage tank persisted. On Saturday, firefighters monitoring the situation recorded a temperature increase in the hazardous substance, which rose from 25°C to 32°C, raising further alarms about the tank's stability.[1][2][3][4]
In response to the threat, emergency crews are working with the specific goal of neutralizing a nearby 15,000-gallon tank. Authorities hope that neutralizing this larger tank will successfully reduce the overall explosive potential at the facility if the smaller, compromised tank fails.[3][4]
