More officials across Orange County are formally approving the local emergencies they declared over the faulty chemical tank on the heels of 50,000 residents being given the greenlight to go home.

It comes as some officials begin to contemplate next steps, ways to improve future responses and new regulations amid demands for accountability and change from residents, with one Anaheim official calling for a survey of all chemical storage facilities in town.

Officials in Westminster, Anaheim, and the Orange County Board of Supervisors ratified their emergencies Wednesday, thanking staff and public safety for the work they did to keep people safe over the Memorial Day Weekend.

Officials in Garden Grove and Stanton – arguably the cities most impacted by the chemical tank and the evacuation – ratified their local emergency on Tuesday over the crisis calling for accountability from GKN Aerospace and compensation for residents and business owners.

[Read: Garden Grove and Stanton Demand Accountability for Chemical Tank Emergency]

In an emailed response to Voice of OC questions Wednesday evening, GKN leaders apologized for the disruption caused to residents and business owners and thanked emergency responders. 

“We are committed to understanding what occurred and identifying ways we can support those affected,” said Steve Carlin, Senior Vice President of the company, in the response.

“Our focus remains on supporting the community, working closely with authorities, and continuing to ensure a safe and responsible path forward. I am personally committed to working with the Garden Grove, Stanton, and broader Orange County communities on these efforts.”

Cypress officials also ratified their local emergency Tuesday.

Next Steps: Assessing The Crisis & Reimbursement

On Wednesday, Anaheim City Councilman Ryan Balius, who had to evacuate during the disaster, called for a survey of all chemical storage facilities in town.

“When fire gets back and they get rested up, I’d like them to go out and survey the businesses that are in the in Anaheim and identify if we have any of the same chemical storage or hazmat or hazard conditions that exist and then triple check the safety systems out there to make sure that that something like this doesn’t happen in Anaheim,” he said at the special meeting.

Councilman Carlos Leon asked staff to come back with resolutions to urge state and federal leaders to tighten regulation on these types of facilities.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. I know there’s a lot of learning that we still have to do as to the how and why we got to this situation, but as proactive as we can be, we can urge our state and federal representatives to address this on their side,” he said.

City staff said they will hold meetings to go over how they responded to the crisis and what areas they need to improve on.

Staff also said ratifying the emergency was important to get the city, residents and business owners to be reimbursed.

Impacted residents and businesses are expected to get a chance to be reimbursed or compensated for their expenses due to the crisis through a claim process that local officials say they are still figuring out how and when to roll out.

[Read: OC Residents Impacted by Faulty Chemical Tank May Get Reimbursed]

“We are already in the early stages of trying to explore whatever resources may be available for both our businesses and residents,” said City Spokesman Mike Lyster at Wednesday’s special meeting.

“With the help of our economic development department, we are currently out doing what really would be the first step, which we call an economic impact survey that we have extended out to our businesses, which we estimated about 150 in the Anaheim evacuation zone, trying to gage from them what sort of impact that they saw.”

Lyster said they would share those results with the county to try and open up resources from federal and state agencies for residents and business owners.

Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon said more information on the reimbursement process would come later and encouraged businesses impacted to call the city if they have any needs.

“Our economic development manager will help with businesses, and our team has been in contact with some of the other agencies,” she said at Wednesday’s meeting. 

“If there is going to be available funding, we just don’t know what that looks like yet. Unfortunately, it’s a few layers above what we can provide but if there’s an opportunity, we’ll be able to provide that information out.”

In Westminster, executives are looking to pursue state and federal disaster funding assistance in the wake of the malfunctioning chemical tank crisis that forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes across six OC cities.

On Wednesday, city council members voted 4-0 at a special 3 p.m. meeting to ratify their local emergency over the malfunctioning tank and 4-0 to designate top city executives to apply for disaster assistance from federal and state emergency agencies.

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.