<\/p>\n
Evacuees Rodger Macias, right, and his wife Alendera Marcias set up a tent outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ethan Swope\/AP Photo\/Ethan Swope<\/p>\n
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday.<\/p>\n
Ethan Swope\/AP Photo\/Ethan Swope<\/p>\n
Evacuees Rodger Macias, left, his wife Alendera Marcias, and son, Adam Marcias, set up a tent outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ethan Swope\/AP Photo\/Ethan Swope<\/p>\n
Jan De Jonge kisses a pet while sitting inside a tent with their belonging outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ethan Swope\/AP Photo\/Ethan Swope<\/p>\n
An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ethan Swope\/AP Photo\/Ethan Swope<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Federal authorities served a search warrant on Wednesday at a Southern California aerospace facility where a chemical tank overheated last month, forcing 50,000 residents to evacuate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The warrant signed by a federal judge last week approved the seizure of documents and records related to the \u201cstorage, use, or disposal\u201d of methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the affected tank.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cSamples of the substance within any tank, tote, drum, vat, vessel, or container suspected of containing or having previously contained methyl methacrylate and\/or any hazardous substance\u201d were also sought, according to the warrant.<\/p>\n
The warrant also orders agents to seize records related to \u201cany cooling equipment or other equipment used to control or regulate the temperature of methyl methacrylate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FBI confirmed its agents were searching GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems in the Orange County city of Garden Grove.<\/p>\n
GKN Aerospace makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields. The tank that overheated contained 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, which is highly flammable. The liquid is used in the manufacturing of plastics and coatings, such as Plexiglas and dental prosthetics.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Exposure to the chemical can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological issues and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Responding to a request for comment on the FBI investigation, a GKN spokesperson told the AP on Wednesday morning: \u201cWe are cooperating with authorities at our Garden Grove facility and will continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n GKN\u2019s Steve Carlin spoke at a community meeting Tuesday evening. He thanked the firefighters and local leaders who responded to the incident at the plant that employs more than 500 people, and apologized to the community.<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of GKN and the Garden Grove plant I want to say that I\u2019m sorry that this event and this incident occurred. I understand and I realized sitting here tonight what a disruptive event it was and how unsettling it is to the greater community. Particularly unsettling to us at GKN because of the long history that we have with Garden Grove and how connected we are to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Carlin said the company would be willing to hold a town hall meeting where residents could ask questions. But he said Tuesday that it is very early in the investigation into what happened, so it is too soon to make decisions about what actions the company might take in response to the incident.<\/p>\n Separately, the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office also is conducting a criminal investigation into the GKN Aerospace plant, according to DA spokesperson Kimberly Edds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have sent a preservation letter to GKN directing them not to modify or destroy any evidence, which the company\u2019s outside counsel confirmed receipt,\u201d Edds told The Associated Press in an email.<\/p>\n About a dozen people and businesses that were among the 50,000 evacuated during the chemical emergency have filed federal lawsuits against the company.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Stay informed, and entertained.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n County health officials assured residents that no contamination or fumes were released, and that they would keep monitoring the air for several months and checking the sewer and storm drains.<\/p>\n Associated Press journalists Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evacuees Rodger Macias, right, and his wife Alendera Marcias set up a tent outside the Elks Lodge in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,144780,144781,47,2390,2391,3263,2386,2387,87553,144713],"class_list":["post-354984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chemical-plant-explosion-fbi-search","tag-kimberly-edds","tag-los-angeles","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30031-ap-california-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31998-ap-online-national-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-steve-carlin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354984","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=354984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778921290_52_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
<\/p>\n