Garden Grove chemical crisis reaches 5th day as threat of massive explosion eliminated

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. - Emergency crews continue to work around the clock to prevent a chemical plant in Garden Grove from leaking or exploding, with an estimated 50,000 Orange County residents under evacuation orders. 

Monday marks Day 5 of crews responding to GKN Aerospace after one of its chemical tanks overheated to dangerous levels and one of its corners possibly cracked.

See the latest updates below.

School closures update

12:30 p.m.: Garden Grove Unified School District confirmed all schools outside the evacuation zone will remain open and continue normal school operations and end-of-year activities.

Meanwhile, the following schools within the evacuation zones will remain closed Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday: 

• Alamitos Intermediate
• Barker Elementary
• Bryant Elementary
• Bell Intermediate
• Carver Early Childhood Education Center
•  Enders Elementary
• Garden Park Elementary
• Lawrence Elementary
• Pacifica High School
• Patton Elementary
• Rancho Alamitos High School
•  Wakeham Elementary

"These schools will provide optional distance learning for students. We understand many families are facing difficult circumstances due to evacuations and displacement. Students who are unable to participate in distance learning will not be penalized, and attendance and grades will not be negatively impacted. School community liaisons will also personally contact families from impacted schools to offer support and help connect them with available resources," a district spokesperson said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom secures federal assistance

11:55 a.m.: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that President Donald Trump approved the state's request for a Presidential Emergency Declaration to support emergency efforts. 

"California didn’t wait for this situation to escalate — we moved early, aggressively, and in close partnership with local responders to protect lives and support impacted communities. We are grateful for the federal government approving our request and helping strengthen the resources already on the ground to help this community recover safely," Newsom said in a statement. 

Nearly 800 state and local emergency personnel have been assigned to the crisis. 

‘This can’t happen again’ 

11 a.m.: California State Senator Tom Umberg, who represents the state’s 34th district, said it remains unknown when the evacuation order could be lifted. 

"People who are in the shelters can't go back to their homes quite yet. We want to make sure they go back to their homes as soon as possible, but not until it's safe," Sen. Umberg said. 

The senator then spoke about the severity of the situation. 

"This can't happen again. The fact that there are volatile chemicals stored in a residential area and that safeguards were not provided such that we could be confident there wouldn't be a catastrophic event, that just can't happen," he added.

"It’s unacceptable today and is going to be even more unacceptable as we move forward, we can't let that happen. It's our job to create the laws, the rules, the regulations so that it doesn't happen again," Umberg said. 

Worst case scenario eliminated, danger not over

9:45 a.m.: While officials provided relief that the threat of a massive chemical explosion has been eliminated, they also warned they are far from being in the clear.

"The BLEVE has a much bigger blast radius than just an explosion. So getting that off the table is showing our evacuation zones could, in theory start being diminished because the threat of the BLEVE has now been gone," McGovern said. 

"This is not over yet… there's definitely risks right now. We're dealing with the risk of an explosion and there's also a risk of a leak," he explained. "What we're doing is we're mitigating the risk for an explosion and how do you do that is you decrease the temperatures for ignition and that's what the crews are doing right now all that work last night we're able to peel back some of the skin on the tank peel back some of that insulation and now we are directing our hose lines unstaffed hose lines and deluge to more penetrate into the internal tank to cool those temperatures."

Threat of explosion eliminated

8:03 a.m.: The Orange County Fire Authority said the threat of an explosion has been eliminated. 

"Our concern was that the pressure in the tank was building up to a point that it could potentially BLEVE at any moment. The crews that went in last night discovered that the crack that was on the tank was releasing the pressure, and so now that BLEV potential is completely off the table, which is great news," explained Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Nick Garton. 

"The temperatures as the cruise read last night were at 93 degrees, and they're trending downwards, and we're going to continue monitoring throughout the day," he added. 

In addition, all evacuation orders remain in place. 

" I know everybody's itching to get back home. We have to continue to monitor and make sure that that temperature continues to trend in the right direction as the sun heats up. So we're going to continue monitor that, make sure everything is 100% safe before we release people to get into their homes. But we're gonna do that as soon as possible," Capt. Garton said. 

Theme parks remain open

8 a.m.: Some of Southern California’s biggest theme parks are near the chemical leak and have not been impacted. Knott’s Berry Farm, which is about five miles away, has not been impacted. Disneyland, which is also about 5 miles away, also remains fully operational. A Disney spokesperson confirmed with FOX 11 there was no impact to the park or the resorts. 

Park officials continue to monitor the situation. 

Three possible scenarios

7 a.m.: The Orange County Fire Authority said there is no active leak and they continue to do atmospheric monitoring to confirm that.  On Monday morning, all eyes and water hoses remained on the tank filled with that hazardous chemical known as MMA, which is used in a variety of products to make acrylic plastics like plexiglass. 

Crews were also preparing for three possible scenarios: 

• Explosion: If the chemical continues to heat.
• Rupture: Chemical spill.
• Stabilization: Cooling operations successful.

Crews working to prevent explosion

6 a.m.: Officials said 50,000 people remain evacuated as the firefighters worked through the night and into the morning for the high-stakes operation. 

EVACUATION ZONE

The current mandatory evacuation zone encompasses parts of Stanton, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park, Westminster, and Anaheim.

The boundaries cover the following areas:

• North of: Trask Avenue
• South of: Ball Road
• East of: Valley View Street
• West of: Dale Street

EVACUATION CENTERS

Evacuation centers have been established at the following locations: 

• Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley
• Golden West College in Huntington Beach
• Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach
• Savannah High School in Anaheim
• John F. Kennedy High School in La Palma
• Freedom Hall in Fountain Valley
• Orange County Fair & Event Center for RV evacuees
• OC Animal Care Center in Tustin (open to house dogs, cats and small pets)

The backstory:

The incident began on Thursday, May 21 at GKN Aerospace on Western Avenue in Garden Grove.

That's where a 34,000-gallon storage tank containing methyl methacrylate (MMA), a toxic, highly flammable liquid chemical used to manufacture acrylic plastics, began to overheat.

During the earlier stages of the investigation, Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Division Chief Craig Covey said a faulty valve on the tank prevented crews from off-loading or introducing a neutralizing stabilizer into the chemical material.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Unstable Garden Grove chemical tank keeps 50,000 under evacuation orders
• Class-action lawsuit filed amid Garden Grove chemical crisis and mass evacuations
• Overheated GKN Aerospace tank faces explosion or leak

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