Orange County fire authorities were “bringing people in from all over the country” Saturday to confront a rising threat from a compromised chemical storage tank that authorities said is either going to crack open and leak thousands of gallons of toxic materials or explode.
Roughly 40,000 people remained under evacuation orders in Garden Grove and surrounding areas Saturday, while a dangerous overnight foray into a nearby tank at the facility revealed that temperatures there were rising by about 1 degree per hour and not decreasing as hoped, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Unified Incident Commander Craig Covey said Saturday that working with the chemists from the manufacturer’s emergency response team, the OCFA put its people “back in harm’s way last night” transitioning from defense to offense in an attempt to neutralize an additional 15,000-gallon tank to remove its explosive potential in the event that an adjacent tank blows up.
He said the workers were able to see a gauge that’s covered by water, and it revealed that the temperature had increased to 90 degrees from 77 degrees Friday morning.
The team was currently allowing the tank to “cure at a slower rate and reducing its (building) overpressure,” Covey said.
Additionally, the OCFA is “bringing people in from all over the country … talking to people all over the place, trying to come up with additional options,” he added. “Letting this thing just fail and blow up is unacceptable to us.”
He added that “very aggressive” contingency plans are being employed in case the tank blows up or leaks, including fire and medical emergency plans, though the only people currently at risk are the firefighters and police officers on scene, Covey added.
If the tank leaks, authorities are trying to establish “some diking and damming and divert it to a spot that could be holding area” to prevent the fluid from “getting into our storm drains, our river channels and ultimately into the ocean, (causing) an environmental disaster,” Covey said.
The situation developed shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday at GKN Aerospace, 12122 Western Ave., due to a chemical that became overheated inside a large tank. OCFA crews and Garden Grove police initially responded around 3:30 p.m. to GKN Aerospace because the overheated 34,000-gallon tank had begun venting vapors and triggering a sprinkler system designed to spray water on the tank to cool the material inside. The tank is located in proximity to two other storage tanks.
The chemical in the tank is methyl methacrylate, a toxic and highly flammable liquid chemical used in the manufacture of acrylic plastics. GKN Aerospace, a leading global supplier of vehicle and aircraft components, manufactures acrylic plastics.
Firefighters began spraying the failing tank with water in an effort to cool the material inside.
Evacuation orders were initially issued Thursday, but were lifted Thursday night when crews believed they were making progress mitigating the situation. But Friday morning, the orders were re-instituted “due to changing conditions,” according to the OCFA. As the morning wore on, the situation worsened, and the evacuation zone was expanded to create a roughly one-mile buffer area around the tank.
Around midday Friday, Covey gave a bleak update online, saying authorities determined “The tank that is in the biggest crisis is in fact unable to be secured and mitigated.”
“There are literally two options left remaining,” Covey said. “One, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area, or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well.”
Covey stressed that “there is no active gas leak, no plume in the area,” but he warned residents to heed the evacuation warnings and remain out of the area due to the possible spill or explosion. Officials said air quality was being actively monitored in the area, and all readings were still within healthy limits.
No injuries have been reported as of Saturday morning.
It was unclear what caused the material in the tank to overheat.
Covey said a spill of the chemical is actually the “best case scenario, believe it or not,” favorable to an explosion and possible plume of toxic material spreading over the area.
Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein implored residents to follow the evacuation orders.
“We understand it is frightening people who are worried about their homes, their businesses, their pets and loved ones,” she said. “But this is a serious situation and now is not the time to wait.”
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said the MMA chemical is “very toxic.” She said there is a scarcity of reports on the effects of exposure to methyl methacrylate. “It can cause significant irritation in the lungs, the nasal passages, and it can also cause nausea, it can also cause dizziness,” Chinsio-Kwong said.
Rep. Derek Tran, D-Westminster, issued a statement Friday saying he was “closely monitoring” the situation.
“My office is in close contact with local police, fire, and emergency response officials as they work to contain the hazardous materials, assess air quality, and ensure residents and first responders are safe,” he said. “I am in contact with federal disaster relief officials, including FEMA and the EPA, to urge them to provide any available federal assistance for Garden Grove. I encourage everyone in the affected area to follow guidance from local authorities and avoid the impacted zones until further guidance is issued.”
Areas of Westminster, Stanton, Park and Anaheim were also affected by the evacuation order. The evacuation zone covers the area north of Trask Avenue, south of Ball Road, east of Valley View Street and west of Dale Street.
Beach Boulevard was closed from Garden Grove Boulevard to Orangewood Avenue and several off-ramps on the Garden Grove (22) Freeway including Beach Boulevard, Knott Avenue and Valley View Street.
Evacuation centers are located at:
— 13641 Deodara Drive, Garden Grove,
— Cypress: 5700 Orange Ave., Cypress,
— 16801 Euclid St., Fountain Valley,
— Savanna High School, 301 N. Gilbert St., Anaheim, and
— Oceanview High School, 17071 Gothard St., Huntington Beach.
The lingering threat disrupted some events in Orange County including plans to open 39 vote centers Saturday and a The Giving Farm food bank operated by the Community Action Partnership of Orange County. One vote center and three ballot drop boxes are closed and Friday’s scheduled food bank was canceled.
In addition, the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival at the Village Green in downtown Garden Grove, which opened Friday and continues through Memorial Day, has canceled its planned parade and community breakfast. The festival remains open.
Nearby attractions including Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm remain open, but officials said they were monitoring the situation.
The closed vote center is at the Garden Grove Sports and Recreation Center, 13641 Deodara Drive, which is being used as an emergency evacuation center until further notice.
Ballot drop boxes in the evacuation zone are also closed. They are located at:
— Stanton Branch Library, 7850 Katella Ave., Stanton,
— Korean Martyrs Catholic Center, 7655 Trask Ave., Westminster, and
— Chapman Sports Park, 11700 Knott Ave., Garden Grove.
The Garden Grove Unified School District has canceled classes until further notice at Barker, Bryant, Carver, Enders, Garden Park, Lawrence, Wakeham and Patton Elementary School; Bell and Alamitos Intermediate School, Pacifica and Rancho Alamitos High School and Skylark Preschool.