GKN Aerospace is opening the claims program next month for the 50,000 residents who were forced to evacuate in late May, with some displaced from their homes for up to a week.<\/p>\n
While the company previously announced the program would open up to the public sometime in the fall, they haven\u2019t given any more detailed timelines until now.<\/p>\n
[Read: Garden Grove Chemical Plant Behind Evacuations to Reopen, Offering $100 Million in Claims<\/a>]<\/p>\n Steve Carlin, senior vice president of GKN Aerospace, told Garden Grove City Council members during their meeting last night that the program will open in October but didn\u2019t offer a specific date.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still finalizing some details working in conjunction with the DA\u2019s office,\u201d he said at the meeting. \u201cOnce we have the final date and we\u2019re a little closer to it, we\u2019ll be announcing a slew of community events.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the claims program will open for people to request reimbursement for things like hotel stays, transportation, meals, loss of use and loss of wages.<\/p>\n People will be able to access the claims program in multiple languages, online and in person. While Carlin didn\u2019t offer specific details about how long it will take for residents to get their funds, he promised it would be fast and efficient.<\/p>\n Carlin previously promised the community that GKN would host a town hall, which still has not been announced.\u00a0<\/p>\n During last night\u2019s city council meeting, Carlin said the community events would be held in conjunction with the claims program\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n Councilmember Ariana Arestegui said she wasn\u2019t going to let him forget about that promise.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to let it go,\u201d Arestegui said at the meeting, \u201cbecause I do recall that you committed to having a town hall, and I want to make sure that we hold you to that.\u201d<\/p>\n City Manager Lisa Kim said the city has continuous dialogue with GKN and has stressed accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, this doesn\u2019t end our conversation,\u201d Kim said. \u201c[Carlin] hears from me regularly and very clearly that the claims program is integral.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny additional improvements, whether it\u2019s the expansion [or] addressing mitigation to the tanks, we are working closely with our building department alongside public works relating to stormwater control,\u201d she continued. \u201cThere is extensive dialogue with all the regulatory agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Joe DoVinh said he took a tour of the GKN facility earlier that day and encouraged his colleagues to do the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t feel unsafe or unwell at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI would encourage my fellow council members and others to schedule a tour and go see for themselves. Don\u2019t take my word for it. Go put some eyeballs on it and reach your own conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember George S. Brietigam asked if GKN is thinking about changing safety protocols after the hazmat incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carlin said the company brought in a panel of experts and regulatory agencies to review the system and said they\u2019re making a series of safety improvements<\/p>\n \u201cThey recommended, and we\u2019re installing, significant safety enhancements and monitoring equipment to prevent what happened from ever happening again,\u201d Carlin said.<\/p>\n The claims program comes after GKN gave $3 million<\/a> to a mutual aid fund to help residents impacted by the emergency, which quickly closed<\/a> after getting too many applications.<\/p>\n Councilmember Phillip Nguyen said the claims program is a good start but more is needed to assist the 50,000 residents who evacuated and the businesses that were impacted.<\/p>\n \u201c$100 million is a great start,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for 50,000 people evacuated and the business lost, that\u2019s nothing. I hope you\u2019re working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A $100 million claims program for residents and businesses impacted by the Garden Grove chemical tank emergency will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-464429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464429","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=464429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Garden-Grove-Special-Meeting-2026-HICKS-9670.jpg\")
Steve Carlin, senior vice president of GKN Aerospace, speaks to the Garden Grove City Council during a special meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Credit: ANGELINA HICKS, Voice of OC.<\/p>\n