All evacuation – Orange County lifted all remaining evacuation orders Tuesday evening, saying there is no public danger of an explosion, chemical leak, or fire tied to a hazardous materials incident at a GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove.
On Tuesday evening. Orange County emergency officials lifted the last evacuation orders covering Stanton. Garden Grove and surrounding areas after they said there was no remaining danger of an explosion. chemical leak or fire stemming from a hazardous materials incident at an aerospace manufacturing plant.
About 50,000 people had been asked to leave during the height of the crisis, sparked by an overheating tank holding 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a highly flammable liquid monomer used to manufacture plastics. Authorities had warned that the situation could lead to a massive explosion.
Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Orange County Fire Authority announced that the decision to fully repopulate the evacuation zone was made in coordination with law enforcement, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Orange County Public Health Department.
Officials had already been able to narrow the scope of the danger by Monday evening. after they said the risk of a BLEVE—boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion—had been eliminated. They credited that change to crews spraying more than 9 million gallons of water onto the tank. which dramatically reduced the vessel’s temperature.
On Tuesday, crews stayed focused on preventing the risk from returning. Interim Orange County Fire Authority Chief TJ McGovern said their work remained centered on stabilizing the temperature of the tank to eliminate any remaining fire risk.
The six-day chemical crisis began inside the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove on Thursday. McGovern said it was probably caused by the failure of a cooling system designed to regulate the temperature of chemical tanks.
Even as officials moved to reopen the area, the question of what—if anything—escaped into the environment lingered. The Orange County health officer and fire officials have insisted there have been no toxic chemicals released. But some environmental experts expressed skepticism over that claim. especially after the tank’s high internal temperature led to a crack in the vessel.
The sequence of decisions has now shifted the immediate threat into the background: crews used massive amounts of water to reduce temperature. officials said the BLEVE risk was gone. and by Tuesday evening they concluded no public danger remained. The people who were forced to leave now face the return to normal—while the dispute over whether toxic chemicals were released moves into a new phase. with experts pointing to physical damage inside the tank as officials stand by their assessment that nothing was released.
Orange County Stanton Garden Grove evacuation orders lifted chemical crisis GKN Aerospace methyl methacrylate BLEVE TJ McGovern EPA Orange County Fire Authority