Emergency responders battling a dangerous chemical tank situation in southern California announced Monday that they have successfully eliminated the threat of explosion after working through the night.
The crisis began Thursday when a container holding highly combustible methyl methacrylate started experiencing dangerous temperature increases at the GKN Aerospace plant located in Garden Grove, a community housing approximately 172,000 residents about 20 miles south of Los Angeles.
The situation escalated by Saturday, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to issue an emergency declaration while authorities ordered evacuations affecting tens of thousands of local residents. Officials warned the container could potentially burst and release as much as 7,000 gallons of poisonous chemicals, or detonate and threaten additional storage tanks nearby.
Emergency crews found reason for optimism when a fracture developed in the container during the weekend, which helped reduce internal pressure and allowed temperatures to drop somewhat.
“That is incredibly positive news,” Craig Covey, a division chief at the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video statement.
