All evacuation orders lifted after Garden Grove chemical tank emergency

All evacuation orders for a hazardous materials incident at a Southern California aerospace facility were lifted Tuesday night, allowing thousands of residents to return to their homes.

Officials lifted the final evacuation order for Garden Grove residents living near a damaged chemical tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems that had previously been at risk of exploding.

Officials said approximately 50,000 people were ordered to evacuate in and around the Orange County city after a tank containing highly flammable methyl methacrylate (MMA) overheated and became compromised.

“All residents will go home,” Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said during a meeting.

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Over Memorial Day weekend, a crack unexpectedly formed in the tank, relieving pressure and helping prevent a catastrophic explosion, allowing most evacuees to return home. Still, approximately 16,000 residents remained under evacuation orders as of Tuesday.

Crews continued spraying water on the tank until the inside temperature stabilized at 92 degrees, down from 100 degrees over the weekend.

A sprinkler system also shut down the tank while company specialists and firefighters removed insulation to help cool it.

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Officials said evacuation orders were lifted after the tank’s temperature remained stable for four hours without help from the sprinkler system.

While health officials have assured residents that monitoring had not detected dangerous levels of pollution or fumes, authorities said they will continue to monitor air quality, sewage systems and storm drains for several months.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to MMA can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems, and skin, eye, and throat irritation.

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Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said she plans to hold the company accountable.

GKN said in a statement on Tuesday that it would continue to work closely with authorities.

“We apologize for the continued disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains the safety of our neighbors and our community,” the statement said.

Residents at the meeting asked why large quantities of the chemical were stored near homes and asked city officials to examine the company’s safety practices.

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Crews had been racing to avoid a catastrophic failure since Thursday, when officials responded to the release of steam from a storage tank at the facility, which makes engine frames and products for commercial and military aircraft.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday as crews transitioned from defensive containment operations to high-risk offensive actions aimed at preventing an explosion.

Orange County Fire Authority Chief TJ McGovern told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the crisis was likely caused by the failure of a cooling system designed to regulate the temperature inside chemical tanks, although officials were still investigating.

He said the malfunction may have caused heat to build up inside a pressurized tank containing 7,000 gallons of MMA.

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“We don’t know why, but it stopped cooling,” McGovern said. “So that’s what started this event, where the product got hot… and that’s how this whole response started. We’re only now able to get to the tanks, so there’s definitely more to come on what caused it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.