Evacuation orders affected 40,000 people in Garden Grove and surrounding cities as officials worked to contain dangerous leaks.
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Southern California authorities were scrambling Friday to figure out how to prevent a leaking tank of hazardous chemicals used to make plastic parts from exploding as about 40,000 people in the region were under evacuation orders.
A fire broke out Thursday at an aerospace plastics factory in Garden Grove, Orange County, when a tank holding 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate overheated and began releasing steam into the air. the Orange County Fire Department said.
Garden Grove Fire Chief Craig Covey said Friday that the tank could fail and rupture, releasing chemicals to the ground, or it could explode.
“This thing is going to fail, we don’t know when,” Covey said. “We’re doing our best to figure out when or how to prevent it.”
Officials ordered residents of Garden Grove to leave on Friday and issued evacuation orders to some residents in five other Orange County cities — Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster — on Friday after they were unable to stop a leak overnight from a tank at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft.
Authorities said there were no reports of injuries.
Covey said in an update late Friday that authorities had been able to maintain the temperature of the water tanks, buying time to resolve the problem.
Garden Grove is about 38 miles south of downtown Los Angeles and less than a mile from Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders Friday. The city is known for its vibrant Vietnamese community and is one of the largest cities in the United States.
Danny Pham said he was dreaming when his roommate knocked on his door around 7 a.m. Friday and told him he needed to leave immediately. Fan had been working late at a Vietnamese restaurant the night before and hadn’t seen the news.
“It shocked me,” said Fan, who lives just blocks from the plastics factory. “I had no idea how serious it would be. I never knew anything like this would happen.”
He left minutes later, taking only his wallet and passport, and took refuge in a friend’s restaurant in a neighboring city.
Late Friday afternoon, Fan was still thinking about where to spend the night and worried that he might have only the clothes on him for several days.
Covey said crews set up containment barriers with sandbags to prevent chemicals from leaking from the tanks to prevent toxic chemicals from entering storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean.
County health officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said if the chemical heats up, it can release vapors that are harmful to people’s health. It can cause respiratory problems, itchy and burning eyes, nausea and headaches.
Crews were initially successful and managed to eliminate one of the two damaged tanks, but Covey said they determined Friday morning that the remaining tanks were “in greatest crisis.”
GKN Aerospace said a dedicated hazardous materials team was assessing the situation.
“There have been no reports of injuries and our top priority remains the safety of our employees, responders and the surrounding community,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We will provide a verified update as soon as more information becomes available.”
Kim Yen, a Garden Grove retiree, was settling in Thursday night when she heard an alarm-like sound on her phone. The alarm told her she needed to leave her home, which was just two blocks away from the chemical leak.
As Yen drove to her daughter’s home in Seal Beach, she worried that others in the local Vietnamese community might ignore or not understand the evacuation alert because it was in English.
“They’re family,” she said. “I hope they stay alert and listen to the news and the authorities. This is horrific.”
Yen, who is originally from Vietnam and has lived in Orange County since 1980, went to her home Friday morning to pick up important documents and medication. By then, her neighborhood had become “a ghost town,” and she was relieved to see police going door-to-door to make sure everyone had evacuated.
“We know this is scary,” Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said. “But for your safety, evacuation orders are in place.”
Local Vietnamese television translated the latest news from officials and urged residents to take the situation seriously.
Rodriguez reported from San Francisco, Rush reported from Portland, Ore., and Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
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