Leaking chemical tank forces mass evacuations in Southern California
A leaking 7,000-gallon methyl methacrylate storage tank in Orange County, California forced mandatory evacuations for about 40,000 people on Friday. Emergency officials warned the tank was "actively in crisis," at risk of rupturing or exploding, and said there was no active gas plume but the tank could not be secured. Schools inside the evacuation zone closed and responders worked to contain the leak while residents left multiple neighborhoods and key roads. The incident matters because methyl methacrylate is highly flammable and a tank failure could cause fires, injuries, widespread property damage, and prolonged displacement for thousands.
Sounds like things are not going well in Orange County, California, where 10,000 people have been told to evacuate because of a toxic chemical leak at the GKN Aerospace facility.
Matt Novak249“There are only two ways the situation could possibly unfold, according to the Orange County Fire Authority, and neither of them is good. The tank could either fail and spill thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals, or it could explode.” abc7.com/amp/post/tan...
Original CMH55For those who want to know it's methyl methacrylate. Volatile and flammable.
Emily PhD 🎓29Reddit thread for that is here, for locals www.reddit.com/r/orangecoun...
Rebecca Schoenkopf2540,000, and 15 percent are refusing to leave
Antifa Hoagie Assassin16This is a tricky problem. Methyl methacrylate isn't especially toxic, so it won't be terribly harmful or difficult to clean up. But it's VERY flammable, and burns very hot, which if the tank ruptures or explodes, can set fire to a *lot* of tanks that *DO* have extremely dangerous stuff in them.
BLISS USA FREEDOM FIGHTER15GKN Aerospace facility a global Corporation who should have been regulating toxic chemical tanks. Health and Safety laws and regulations have obviously been ignored.
Ohio Todd11Walk into the wind, folks. That's the only thing I have learned from listening to hundreds of hours of disaster podcasts.
no one9i feel really bad for all the orange county residents who aren’t republicans
Sy Oppington, fellow poster6At least they weren't subject to oppressive government regulations and oversight. That would be the real tragedy!
Lee Rowan 🐕 🐈⬛ 🌳 🌈 🏳️🌈 🇨🇦 🐉 🇺🇦🦇🪶🖋️ 🇺🇸4This kind of thing was predicted in 1970... by scientists extrapolating what would happen if humans ignored the overpopulation/pollution crisis. And here we are.
Kathy Byrne2update on the 6p news, they reported the temperature has stabilized a bit which will buy them more time to figure something out but earlier had said the cylinder’s valves & mechanisms have been rendered useless
Eno2@dirkwilbury.bsky.social @cgillespie62.bsky.social is this near you??
KurasuSoratobu2The words 'the most compromised tank' are just chilling. WHY IS THERE MORE THAN ONE TANK COMPROMISED IN THE FIRST PLACE?!
Partially.Convinced+2Huh, they should just follow Texas’ lead and dump it in a nearby stream, or vent it (liquid or gas).
If you're in the area impacted by this incident in Garden Grove, follow local evacuation orders and guidance from local emergency officials. Get the latest information ➡️ ggcity.org/emergency
🇺🇸🇺🇦🏳️🌈🇬🇧🇫🇷🇨🇦🛠️🗽💪🏻⚖️12This is an area with no easy ways out when congested. Please folks, evacuate to safety!! Get your animals out!
DaniSue8So Gavin, why do we allow 34,000 gallons of a chemical that may explode adjacent to homes? Or are these the less wealthy communities the we usually pollute?
brahmavihara.bsky.social7The Trump administration has proposed rolling back Biden-era chemical disaster rules aimed at preventing accidents at thousands of industrial facilities, and also proposed eliminating the federal Chemical Safety Board, an independent agency that investigates chemical spills and other disasters.
connie6the WatchDuty app is excellent and shows the evac area well and the evacuation center info too
bluebilly53.bsky.social2What California agency dropped the ball on inspection of this tank? How was it able to overheat? What system failed that could have been prevented by timely maintenance?
design3.bsky.social2How did city officials let these deteriorating tanks stay online Clearly the company didn't give a damn but the Fire Marshall's sure weren't doing their inspections and homes backed up to the facotry Bad city planning Now we wait as our families evacuate FD figure it out *****
Crazy Catlady 🇱🇷🌊🗽📜2Why would something so dangerous be allowed in a heavily populated area?
notwittyvicki.bsky.social2Pretty close to Disneyland 😳
