Emergency officials say the worst-case scenario for a malfunctioning chemical tank massively exploding in Garden Grove has been eliminated after firefighters verified a crack in the tank and the internal temperature has been dropping.
Tens of thousands of North OC residents remain under evacuation orders.
OC Fire Authority officials have been grappling with how to best address the malfunctioning tank at GNK Aerospace off Western Avenue in Garden Grove since Thursday and by Friday officials said they were told there were two options – a leak or an explosion.
“We are happy to report that the threat of the BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) is off the table,” said OC Fire Authority interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern in a Monday morning update.
In a news conference after the update, McGovern told reporters that a chance of a smaller explosion still exists.
“The threat is not eliminated. The threat of a BLEVE is eliminated. We have a BLEVE, we have an explosion, we have a spill. The threat of a BLEVE is eliminated,” McGovern said. “If you have a BLEVE with this chemical, this tank, you need this much radius – that’s been eliminated.”
He said the danger zones could “potentially be shrunken” later today.
OC Fire Authority Incident Commander Craig Covey said crews were able to verify the tank’s crack and drop in pressure overnight.
“Our members went in that exclusion zone again to validate what we’re seeing and get those temperatures. The crack is there. We have verified that it’s there and the tank has released its pressure,” Covey said during the update.
“The temperature has been stabilized and actually reducing. It’s currently 93 degrees, down from 100 degrees. That is incredibly good news,” he added.
Evacuations are still in place.
According to the Garden Grove city website, four out of six evacuation centers were filled up as of Monday morning.
Parts of Anaheim, Buena Park, Garden Grove and Westminster are under evacuation orders while nearly the entire City of Stanton sits in the evacuation zone – including city hall and the police station.
Fire Authority officials also note there was no ongoing chemical leak on Monday morning, according to atmospheric monitoring.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
