Failing chemical tank forces thousands to evacuate in Southern California
Key takeaways
- Firefighters were able to reduce the tank’s temperature, buying crews more time to stabilise the situation.
- The tank is one of three located at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, about 49km (30 miles) from Los Angeles.
- Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said the tank could either rupture, causing its contents to spill onto the ground and create a plume, or explode.
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Firefighters were able to reduce the tank’s temperature, buying crews more time to stabilise the situation.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Firefighters work at the scene of a chemical tank that overheated at an aerospace plant in Garden Grove, California [Ethan Swope/AP]By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters Published On 23 May 202623 May 2026About 40,000 people in Southern California have been ordered to evacuate their homes as emergency responders race to prevent a large tank containing hazardous chemicals from leaking or exploding.
Residents in six Orange County cities were told to leave their homes on Friday after a storage tank containing up to 7,000 gallons (26,500 litres) of methyl methacrylate – a highly flammable chemical used in the production of plastics – began to fail the previous evening.