{"id":39232,"date":"2026-05-26T05:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T05:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=39232"},"modified":"2026-05-26T05:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T05:21:10","slug":"thousands-can-return-home-after-catastrophic-explosion-risk-at-california-tank-is-averted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=39232","title":{"rendered":"Thousands can return home after \u2018catastrophic\u2019 explosion risk at California tank is averted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-bb343b\" class=\"body-graf\">The risk of a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/crack-california-toxic-chemical-tank-easing-pressure-explosion-rcna346750\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explosion at a chemical tank<\/a> in a Los Angeles-area city was averted by Monday, but around 16,000 people remained under evacuation orders as some risks remained, officials said.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"styles_subscriptionCTA__LOUeY\" id=\"subscriptionCTA\" type=\"button\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_textWrapper__vxvko\">\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free    <\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b41d60\" class=\"body-graf\">The liquid in the 7,000-gallon tank of methyl methacrylate at the Garden Grove facility started to overheat Thursday following an issue with a valve in its refrigeration system, ushering in a tense several days as first responders and experts worked to avoid an explosion. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-aac6da\" class=\"body-graf\">On Monday, officials said the biggest risk, of a potential \u201cboiling liquid expanding vapor explosion,\u201d or a BLEVE, had been averted.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-885891\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThe most catastrophic and worst-case scenario was mitigated and resolved,\u201d interim Orange County Fire Chief TJ McGovern said at a news conference Monday evening.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-134b00\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIt\u2019s not over yet, and I want to re-emphasize that: It\u2019s not over yet. We still have work to do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5ea88e\" class=\"body-graf\">McGovern said firefighters \u201cstill have to mitigate a fire and very small explosion concern, and also a spill potential.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ca4b0b\" class=\"body-graf\">Evacuation orders in the city in northern Orange County, about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles and 4 miles from Disneyland in Anaheim, were reduced from around 60,000 to 16,000 Monday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-91b332\" class=\"body-graf\">The incident began Thursday at a GKN Aerospace facility, where Orange County fire officials reported a \u201cvapor release.\u201d Further investigation found that temperatures in a tank of methyl methacrylate, a toxic chemical used to manufacture resins and plastics, were rising, officials said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d7b855\" class=\"body-graf\">The tank overheated after a valve that is part of a recirculating refrigeration system, designed to keep the tank at 50 degrees, malfunctioned, Orange County Fire Division Chief Craig Covey said Monday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9cba9f\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cOne of the valves in that system froze up, so it was no longer being circulated,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd due to that failure, the tank went into the heating-up process because it wasn\u2019t continuing to be chilled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ffbfa\" class=\"body-graf\">A BLEVE and a spill at the property could have been one of the worst chemical events in state history, Covey has said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0e0fd9\" class=\"body-graf\">A temperature gauge read 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest the gauge would go, at one point. By Monday it had dropped to 93 degrees, Covey said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-648cc3\" class=\"body-graf\">Millions of gallons of water have been poured onto the tank to lower the temperature inside, Covey said, and deluge sprinklers also mitigate the risk of a fire.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cbb242\" class=\"body-graf\">On Monday, a crack in the tank released enough pressure without causing a leak, which allowed for more offensive measures, he said. That night, a crew was able to strip insulation and other materials off the sides of the tank so the water could cool the contents more quickly, Covey said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1e5889\" class=\"body-graf\">Covey said GKN has been responsive. \u201cThey have absolutely been hip-to-hip with us down there\u201d and hired a contractor to assist in the incident, he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d6b72\" class=\"body-graf\">A GKN spokesperson said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gknaerospace.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an online statement Monday<\/a>that on Sunday its team removed insulation from the tank to help cool its contents. The company said \u201cwe are continuing to work around the clock\u201d with federal and state agencies to prevent any leak.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0b9302\" class=\"body-graf\">There have been no injuries, Covey said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5d2135\" class=\"body-graf\">With the progress, officials reduced the size of the evacuation zone, allowing the majority of the 60,000 people temporarily displaced to return home. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-255e23\" class=\"body-graf\">Evacuation orders for the remaining 16,000 would remain in effect through Monday night and be re-evaluated Tuesday, Covey said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3e04dc\" class=\"body-graf\">Officials said at the news conference that there has been no contamination from the incident or the response efforts. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d24f1c\" class=\"body-graf\">Air monitoring with 20,000 instruments in the region has detected \u201cno exceedances\u201d throughout the incident, Chris Myers, the federal on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said Monday evening.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f983b4\" class=\"body-graf\">Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra asked for patience from those who have been told to leave their homes and from the residents of the city. He urged people to obey the existing evacuation orders.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0d9ac1\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cPlease understand that we are doing this for your safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/thousands-can-return-home-catastrophic-explosion-risk-california-tank-rcna346843\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The risk of a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d explosion at a chemical tank in a Los Angeles-area city was averted by Monday, but around 16,000 people remained under evacuation orders as some risks remained, officials said. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The liquid in the 7,000-gallon tank of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-conditions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39234,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232\/revisions\/39234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}