{"id":330879,"date":"2026-05-24T21:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/330879\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:22:11","slug":"operation-to-stop-california-chemical-leak-that-has-already-evacuated-50000-people-on-new-trajectory-after-key-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/330879\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation to stop California chemical leak that has already evacuated 50,000 people on \u2018new trajectory\u2019 after key discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dangerous chemical leak that forced nearly 50,000 people <\/a>from their homes in Orange County, California,<\/a> may have taken a hopeful turn after crews discovered what officials described as a pressure-relieving crack<\/a> in the leaking industrial tank.<\/p>\n

Officials said Sunday the discovery at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove could change the strategy for handling the crisis, which has entered its fourth day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this new information, it could change our trajectory and our strategy to this event,\u201d Orange County<\/a> Fire Authority Interim Chief TJ McGovern said in a post on X.<\/a> \u201cLast night was a successful operation for this emerging incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leak began on Thursday at the facility on Western Avenue in Garden Grove. Authorities expanded evacuation orders Friday to neighborhoods across Garden Grove, Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster.<\/p>\n

The leaking tank is estimated to contain about 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a highly flammable industrial chemical that can release toxic fumes and potentially trigger explosions if temperatures continue to rise. No injuries have been reported, but more than 50,000 residents were under an evacuation order over the Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Officials<\/p>\n

Officials said Sunday that the discovery of a pressure-relieving crack in the leaking industrial tank at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove (pictured) could change the strategy for handling the crisis and finding a solution (Getty)<\/p>\n

California<\/a> State Sen. Tom Umberg said Sunday that the tank temperature reached 100 degrees during overnight operations, the highest reading possible on monitoring equipment, but said the newly discovered pressure release could help reduce the danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may avoid the two concerns that we all had,\u201d Umberg said. \u201cOne was an explosion, the other was a leak of liquid material vaporizing into a toxic fume, a toxic plume.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just days earlier, officials warned the situation could end in catastrophe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are literally two options left remaining: One, the tank fails and spills a total of about [6,000] to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot and that area,\u201d OCFA Incident Commander Craig Covey said Friday. \u201cOr two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around it that have fuel or chemicals in them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday to free up state resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety of Orange County<\/a> residents is the top priority,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cWe are mobilizing every state resource available to support local responders and make sure the community has what they need to stay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced an investigation into the incident and urged potential whistleblowers to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am indicating to employees who work at GKN: If you want to come forward and you want to be interviewed and you want to tell us what you know, now is the time,\u201d Spitzer said.<\/p>\n

\"Evacuees<\/p>\n

Evacuees wait in line for food after a chemical leak from a large storage tank threatened residents in Garden Grove, California on May 22. Nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view of traffic cones on closed streets while water is sprayed onto an overheated 34,000-gallon tank at GKN Aerospace (Getty)<\/p>\n

Methyl methacrylate is a flammable, colorless liquid used in the production of resins, plastics and plastic dentures and is a hazardous substance regulated by the federal government.<\/p>\n

The substance can irritate the lungs, eyes and skin and in high doses can cause reduced lung function, along with dizziness and memory problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Air monitoring tests have so far found that air pollution around the evacuation zone is within normal limits.<\/p>\n

If the temperature inside the tank rises, it will cause pressure to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas, increasing the risk of explosion, which could ignite other tanks at the site.<\/p>\n

A blast that releases the chemical into the air would send it into a wider area, and could create vapors that are hazardous to inhale, according to Orange County’s top health officer, Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are not in the evacuation zone, we don\u2019t expect any health impact,\u201d Dr. Chinsio-Kwong said. \u201cIf you were told to evacuate, please evacuate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dangerous chemical leak that forced nearly 50,000 people from their homes in Orange County, California, may have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,136492,137259,37667,34746,11078,136494,136493,611,67487],"class_list":["post-330879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chemical-leak","tag-dangerous-chemical-leak","tag-evacuation-order","tag-evacuation-orders","tag-garden-grove","tag-gkn-aerospace","tag-methyl-methacrylate","tag-orange-county","tag-tom-umberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}