“This Thing Is Gonna Fail. We Don’t Know When.” Two Days. Two Options. Either The Tank Cracks And Spills 7,000 Gallons Of Toxic Chemicals, Or It Blows Up.
According to NPR, authorities in Southern California are racing to prevent the explosion of a storage tank at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove that has been leaking methyl methacrylate; a highly volatile, highly toxic and highly flammable chemical used to make plastic parts as approximately 40,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders across six Orange County cities.
Crews first arrived at the GKN Aerospace facility on Western Avenue on Thursday afternoon after receiving a hazmat call at 3:40pm. The chemical initially stayed at temperature, but four hours later the tank overheated, activating a relief valve and sprinkler safety system designed to cool it down.
By Friday afternoon, Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey warned that crews had been unable to fully stabilise the tank. “There are literally two options left remaining,” Covey said. “One, the tank fails and spills about six to seven thousand gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot. Or two, the tank goes into thermal runaway and blows up.”
Evacuation orders were expanded Friday to residents across Garden Grove, Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. No injuries or deaths have been reported. Governor Gavin Newsom urged residents to follow local evacuation orders, and the American Red Cross has teams on standby.
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