NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) – Experts trying to prevent a tank holding a highly toxic and flammable chemical from exploding in Southern California found a “potential crack” in the container that might be reducing the pressure, a fire official said on Sunday.
Since Friday, officials have warned that the tank, which contains methyl methacrylate, a chemical used in plastics and manufacturing, could rupture and spill up to 7,000 gallons (26,500 liters) of toxic material or explode and endanger other tanks on the GKN Aerospace site.
The incident began on Thursday at the company’s facility in Garden Grove, California, which makes aircraft windshields and specialty aerospace plastics among other things, as the chemical began to overheat. Efforts to neutralize the reaction failed due to damage to valves on the tank, fire officials have said.
Evacuation orders were issued on Friday for an area of Garden Grove, a suburb roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Los Angeles. Tens of thousands of people are covered by the evacuation orders.
TJ McGovern, interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video message posted on social media that a team of specialists on Saturday night found “a potential crack in the tank, which could potentially be relieving some of the pressure in there.”
Discovering the potential crack was “positive intel”, McGovern said.
Authorities are still trying to determine whether the possible crack has relieved pressure in the tank, a spokesperson for the Orange County Fire Authority told Reuters. Lowering the pressure could help avert an explosion, he said.
“We continue to monitor the condition of the affected material and are working round the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak,” the company said in a statement.
Although officials for now are focused on measuring pressure, the spokesperson said, the crack eventually could allow authorities to drain the chemicals gradually.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday said he had requested that President Donald Trump issue a federal emergency declaration to support response operations. Newsom declared a state of emergency for Orange County on Saturday.
RESPIRATORY CONCERNS
Health officials have said they were concerned that prolonged exposure to vapor from the chemical could cause severe respiratory problems. Air monitors deployed in Garden Grove were not detecting any chemicals or pollutants on Sunday, the EPA said.
Sensors located around the tank itself have not picked up any chemical leaks in the air, the fire authority spokesperson said.
GKN, division of British aerospace supplier Melrose Industries, has a pattern of regulatory violations at the facility, according to public records from federal and California agencies.
According to a settlement document provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the company agreed to pay the air quality regulator nearly $910,000 in late 2024 to settle allegations of multiple rule violations.
In response to a request for comment, a GKN spokesperson declined to elaborate beyond the company’s statement about the Garden Grove incident on its website.
At one point on Saturday, the tank’s internal temperature reached as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the fire authority said. But EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that local officials were working to stabilize the tank by keeping its temperature under 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I’m being told this morning that the most likely scenario is one of a low-volume release, where the local authorities are going to be able to monitor, neutralize and contain the threat,” Zeldin told CNN.
Crews were preparing for a possible spill by looking for ways to dike, dam and divert the liquid into a holding area at the commercial site, rather than allow it to reach storm drains, river channels or the ocean, the fire authority has previously said.
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Sabrina Valle; Editing by Sergio Non, David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)
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