GARDEN GROVE, CA — Authorities are monitoring a compromised hazardous chemical storage tank that might either crack open and leak thousands of gallons of toxic substance or explode in Garden Grove Friday. The fraught situation triggered a slew of evacuation orders and school closures affecting 40,000 people in Garden Grove and neighboring cities.
Around midday, OCFA Division Chief Craig Covey gave a bleak update online, saying that authorities have determined that "The tank that is in the biggest crisis is in fact unable to be secured and mitigated."
The incident started at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday at SKN Aerospace at 12122 Western Avenue and has since grown in severity and scale.
Evacuation orders were initially issued Thursday and lifted Thursday night when crews believed they were making progress mitigating the situation.
However — by Friday morning, the orders were re-instituted and expanded "due to changing conditions," according to the OCFA.
As the morning wore on, the evacuation zone was further expanded to create a one-mile buffer zone around the affected area.
Here's what to know about the current Hazmat incident in Garden Grove.
Methyl methacrylate is a toxic and highly flammable liquid chemical used in the manufacture of acrylic plastics.
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said during a Friday news conference the MMA chemical is "very toxic."
She said there is a scarcity of reports on the effects of human exposure, so what we know about its impact on human health is limited.
"It can cause significant irritation in the lungs, the nasal passages, and it can also cause nausea, it can also cause dizziness," Chinsio-Kwong said.
Worst case affects of explosure include coma, and liver or kidney damage, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
There are studies on how it affects mice, "and if it can have that type of effect in mice it can have that same effect in humans," she said.
"When you have limited short-term exposure, meaning maybe you inhaled some of the vapor, it can cause significant irritation in the lungs, nasal passages and it can also cause nausea, dizziness, Chinsio-Kwong said. "At very high levels it can cause severe respiratory distress and hospitalization. This is where we really need everyone to heed these evacuation orders."
Chinsio-Kwong noted that officials really don't know how the population would be impacted by the chemical in the event of an explosion.
"[How residents will be impacted] depends on the concentration of exposure. We don’t know, we don’t know in terms of if there was a plume, how heavy was the plume, what concentration of the substance is in the plume," Chinsio-Kwong said. "So if an explosion were to happen, again, we want everyone to be away from the zone that we have created to safeguard everybody’s health."
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the effects of Methyl methacrylate exposure include:
While the threat of a potential explosion looms large in Orange County, the Orange County Fire Authority said that air levels across the area were within acceptable quality limits as of Friday afternoon.
"We are actively monitoring the air and those limits right now are within normal limits," OCFA Interim Chief TJ McGovern said. "We are actively monitoring them, they are within normal limits, and we are going to continue to monitor them."
Orange County residents concerned about the potential of changing air quality were encouraged to follow the OCFA's Facebook page for frequent updates.
Around midday, OCFA Division Chief Craig Covey gave a bleak update online, saying that authorities have determined that "The tank that is in the biggest crisis is in fact unable to be secured and mitigated."
"There are literally two options left remaining," Covey said. "One, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area, or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well."
Covey stressed that "there is no active gas leak, no plume in the area," but he warned residents to heed the evacuation warnings and remain out of the area due to the possible spill or explosion. Officials said air quality was being actively monitored in the area, and all readings were still within healthy limits.
As of Friday, May 22, roughly 40,000 Orange County residents were under evacuation orders in cities ranging from Garden Grove, Westminster, Stanton, Buena Park and Anaheim were also affected by the order.
According to the Garden Grove Police Department, roughly 15 percent of residents in evacuation areas were refusing to leave their homes despite the orders.
Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein implored residents to follow the evacuation orders.
"We understand it is frightening people who are worried about their homes, their businesses, their pets and loved ones," she said. "But this is a serious situation and now is not the time to wait."
In addition to homes, a slew of Orange County-area schools were shut down or sent home early Friday as a result of the ongoing crisis.
To view a full list of schools facing closures, visit this link.
The latest orders expanding the current evacuation zone to a one-mile buffer zone around the Hazmat area were issued just before noon Friday, though officials have not mentioned whether or not the orders would be expanded again.
In addition, officials did not give a possible date on when residents could return to their homes.
"This is what we were handed — a leaking tank, or a tank that blows up," Covey said during the news conference. "That’s why we extended the evacuation today, in an overabundance of caution, this is [a substance that is] highly volatile, it is highly toxic, it is highly flammable."
"This is gonna fail, we don’t know when. I know everybody wants to know we’re gonna have them out of the house I don’t have an answer for you on that. At some point this is gonna fail, we’re figuring out the when and how we can prevent it."
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