{"id":457659,"date":"2026-09-08T23:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457659\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T23:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:40:10","slug":"southern-california-authorities-respond-to-a-leak-of-an-unknown-chemical-from-a-tank-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457659\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern California authorities respond to a leak of an unknown chemical from a tank"},"content":{"rendered":"

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and AMY TAXIN, Associated Press<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.<\/p>\n

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.<\/p>\n

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Firetrucks<\/p>\n

Firetrucks blocked off roads following a reported chemical leak, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in La Habra, souther Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A fire fighter is assisted in removing his hazmat suit following a reported chemical leak, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in La Habra, southern Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Firetrucks<\/p>\n

Firetrucks blocked off roads following a reported chemical leak, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in La Habra, southern Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Emergency vehicles line a cordoned off street near a chemical leak Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in La Habra, Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Firetrucks blocked off roads following a reported chemical leak, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in La Habra, souther Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.<\/p>\n

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles north of Anaheim.<\/p>\n

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like pollen dust,\u201d Godinez said, adding she didn\u2019t detect a smell from the cloud. \u201cIt just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.\u201d<\/p>\n

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.<\/p>\n

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.<\/p>\n

Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and AMY TAXIN, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A slow leak from a chemical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,136492,5910,1009],"class_list":["post-457659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chemical-leak","tag-la-habra","tag-southern-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457659","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=457659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}