{"id":337802,"date":"2026-05-29T17:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337802\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:20:17","slug":"evacuations-lift-near-californias-little-saigon-as-chemical-spill-probe-widens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337802\/","title":{"rendered":"Evacuations lift near California\u2019s Little Saigon as chemical spill probe widens"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Orange County authorities lifted all evacuation orders Tuesday night after declaring that a damaged chemical tank at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove no longer posed a risk of explosion, fire or toxic release.<\/p>\n

Crisis declared over<\/p>\n

The Orange County Fire Authority announced<\/a> the all-clear at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, clearing the way for the last 16,000 displaced residents to go home. Roughly 50,000 people had been forced out<\/a> beginning Thursday when crews confirmed that a 34,000-gallon tank was leaking methyl methacrylate, a flammable industrial chemical. President Donald Trump signed a federal emergency declaration Sunday at U.S. Rep. Derek Tran\u2019s urging, freeing federal resources and covering 75% of their cost.<\/p>\n

The tank, which holds an estimated 6,500 to 7,000 gallons of the chemical, had overheated and threatened to rupture or explode. The explosion threat eased after a crack relieved the built-up pressure, while crews continued working to stabilize the tank before declaring it safe. No injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

Investigation expands<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who opened a criminal investigation into the company, said he is broadening the probe to include price gouging and predatory practices by attorneys. He questioned how GKN failed to prevent the crisis.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow, when there is a failure, could that company, given its standing in the community for more than 50 years, how could it subject the community to this kind of danger?\u201d Spitzer told NBC Los Angeles<\/a>. The company reportedly paid more than $900,000 in 2025 to resolve recordkeeping, permitting and nitrogen oxide emissions violations. Residents, meanwhile, have filed a class-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Why this matters<\/p>\n

The crisis struck a region home to large Vietnamese American, Korean American and other Asian American communities, with evacuations extending across Garden Grove, Westminster and surrounding cities that anchor Orange County\u2019s Little Saigon. For returning residents, air monitoring around the evacuation zone stayed within normal limits. Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the county\u2019s top health officer, said<\/a> those outside it were not expected to face any health impact.<\/p>\n

Evacuated residents may be entitled to compensation for loss of use of their homes, living expenses and diminished property value, the law firms behind the suit said<\/a>. Tran, who represents the area, is seeking accountability. \u201cOur community is rightfully angry, and I will continue working around the clock to demand accountability from all responsible actors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trending on NextShark: Evacuations lift near California\u2019s Little Saigon as chemical spill probe widens<\/a><\/p>\n

Investigation into what caused the overeating continues. An exclusion zone remains around the facility as hazmat teams monitor the tanks.<\/p>\n

This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter \u2014 a bold newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.<\/p>\n

Subscribe free to join the movement. If you love what we\u2019re building, consider becoming a paid member \u2014 your support helps us grow our team, investigate impactful stories, and uplift our community.<\/p>\n

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Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Source] Orange County authorities lifted all evacuation orders Tuesday night after declaring that a damaged chemical tank at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,536,11078,136494,611,71209,2034],"class_list":["post-337802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-garden-grove","tag-gkn-aerospace","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-fire-authority","tag-todd-spitzer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337802","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=337802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}