About 50,000 residents of Garden Grove, California remain under an evacuation order after a 34,000-gallon methyl methacrylate tank at GKN Aerospace showed a potential crack following overheating. Firefighters have been continuously spraying the tank with water
On Sunday, the evacuation line in Garden Grove still held steady—an uneasy reminder that a crack can be either the start of a catastrophe or the first sign that one might be averted.
Some 50. 000 residents remain under an evacuation order as emergency teams work to manage a potentially explosive situation at a nearby aerospace manufacturing plant. The trouble is concentrated at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove. where a malfunctioning tank sits in the southeastern corner of the facility.
The tank. which holds somewhere around 7. 000 gallons of methyl methacrylate. a highly toxic and highly flammable chemical used in making resins and plastics. appeared to have cracked overnight. Orange County Fire Authority interim county fire chief TJ McGovern said firefighters approached the tank late Saturday “to ‘get eyes’ on what was happening.”.
“What they found was a potential crack in the tank,” McGovern wrote in a post on social media.
Firefighters first responded to the incident that began Thursday, according to emergency responders. It remains unclear exactly what went wrong, but the chemicals in the tank began to exceed a safe temperature. Methyl methacrylate is a clear, colorless liquid that is highly volatile and releases energy exothermically when it reacts. In other words: if the reaction happens inside a container. it can create a sudden pressure build-up—turning the vessel into an explosive hazard.
That fear is not theoretical. In October 2009, an explosion at a resin manufacturing site involving methyl methacrylate destroyed the factory and damaged adjacent buildings. Nobody was killed, but windows were blown out as far as 600 ft. from the blast site.
At the GKN Aerospace site, the tank has already shown damage and begun to bulge outward, according to Craig Covey, the incident commander at Orange County Fire. Continuous water spray has been used to keep the tank cool.
Two other tanks sit nearby. One has been safely drained and neutralized. The other seems stable for now.
Covey also described what could make this situation slightly more hopeful, even if nothing is truly safe yet. Speaking on Friday. he told reporters that if the damaged tank cracked. it could actually represent the best outcome—far from ideal. but preferable to an explosion inside the tank. He explained that if the contents leaked out. they would no longer pose the same explosive hazard as they did while confined.
“In a weird world that’s the best case scenario believe it or not,” Covey said. “Because once it comes out it is no longer an explosive hazard.”
Even with that grim logic, the risks remain wide and immediate. Methyl methacrylate can irritate skin and eyes, and it can cause respiratory issues and neurological symptoms including headache and lethargy. Longer-term exposure can lead to lung and organ damage.
Environmental impacts in the event of a spill remain uncertain. Covey said that in anticipation of possible leakage, “we’ve created containment barriers.” Firefighters have already laid down sand and other materials aimed at stemming the flow of the chemical into nearby storm drains and waterways.
The company that owns the plant, GKN Aerospace, said on Sunday that it was “working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak.”
Residents aren’t being moved back yet. Orange County Fire Chief McGovern said in a Sunday video statement: “We know that you’re out of your homes, we want to get you back, but we cannot do that until it’s deemed safe.”
The department is keeping a wide evacuation zone because it can’t predict which direction fumes might travel if the situation escalates. So far, no fumes have been detected by firefighters or the Environmental Protection Agency, which has set up monitoring stations around the site.
McGovern said the reconnaissance gave him reason to hope that the newly identified crack might be “relieving some of the pressure in there.”
“We’re not there yet, but this was a step in the right direction,” he said of the recent assessment of the tank. “And there could be a lot more coming shortly.”
Garden Grove GKN Aerospace methyl methacrylate chemical tank crack evacuation order Orange County Fire Authority Orange County Fire environmental monitoring toxic fumes resin manufacturing public safety
So they’re just spraying water and hoping for the best? That’s wild.
I used to drive by GKN all the time, didn’t think it was like… chemical bomb vibes. 50,000 people though?? That seems insane. Do they know it’s not already leaking into the air?
Wait, isn’t methyl methacrylate the same stuff they use in those nail salons? Like the acrylic nails? If that’s true then what the heck, why would they have it by homes.
They say “potential crack” but everyone’s evacuated anyway. Sounds like they don’t actually know if the tank is gonna pop, just that it got hot. Also I don’t get how overheated tank = crack overnight like how does that even happen, unless they weren’t maintaining it. Hope they figure it out before it turns into another 2009 thing.