{"id":211606,"date":"2026-05-24T20:55:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/chemical-tank-on-the-edge-of-exploding-in-california-as-crews-try-to-avert-potential-disaster-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T20:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:55:49","slug":"chemical-tank-on-the-edge-of-exploding-in-california-as-crews-try-to-avert-potential-disaster-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/chemical-tank-on-the-edge-of-exploding-in-california-as-crews-try-to-avert-potential-disaster-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical tank \u2018on the edge\u2019 of exploding in California as crews try to avert potential disaster – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Firefighters have been working through the weekend to cool a chemical tank \u201cliterally on the edge\u201d of exploding in Southern California as they worked to avert a disastrous \u201cworst-case\u201d scenario, the incident\u2019s commander said.
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The 7,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, a toxic chemical used to manufacture resins and plastics, could also then set off an explosion in a 15,000-gallon tank nearby that holds the same substance, Chief Craig Covey, the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) incident commander, told NBC News on Saturday.
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about possibly one of the worst chemical incidents in California history,\u201d he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Orange County and directed his Office of Emergency Services and other state agencies to support affected residents.
The problems that have prompted officials to evacuate tens of thousands of people<\/a> from Garden Grove, California, and from parts of neighboring cities include loss of valve control and rising heat inside the tank, which has already reached the volatile range of 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Covey said.
Those temperatures are a prelude to a \u201cthermal runaway\u201d that could trigger an explosion, he said.
\u201cWe are literally on the edge of it,\u201d he added.
But officials said Sunday morning that a late-night operation provided firefighters with what they described as encouraging new information that could alter their strategy.
\u201cLast night was a successful operation for this emerging incident, and this ongoing incident,\u201d said Orange County Fire Authority interim fire chief TJ McGovern. Firefighters entered the area overnight and were able to visually inspect the tank, where they identified a potential crack that may be \u201crelieving some of the pressure building inside.\u201d
McGovern said crews were working Sunday to \u201cvet and validate\u201d the information, adding that the discovery \u201ccould change our trajectory and our strategy to this event.\u201d
Firefighters have been using sprinklers and hose lines to cool the facilities. They hope that the process will trigger \u201ccuring\u201d in the chemical that would further slow its warming enough to thwart a blast.
Covey said there\u2019s a possibility for a \u201cworst-case\u201d scenario in which the three tanks on site \u2014 including a 4,500-gallon tank \u2014 all explode.
The hazmat events started Thursday with a \u201cvapor release\u201d at the aerospace manufacturing facility\u2019s 7,000-gallon tank, the OCFA said in a statement.
First responders at GKN Aerospace may have initially measured faulty temperature readings because they were taken from outside the tanks\u2019 1-inch-thick steel walls, Covey said. On Saturday morning, some fire personnel got perilously close to the stored chemicals and discovered they could read an internal temperature far greater than any they had seen, he said.
The new assessment measured tank temperatures rising from 77 to 90, with an average increase of 1 degree per hour Saturday afternoon, Covey said.
\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to find ways to mitigate that,\u201d he said. \u201cThe worst-case scenario is that fireball.\u201d
Even if a blast is averted, officials worry the tank could rupture and the chemical could leak into nearby storm drains and make its way to the Pacific Ocean. Covey said officials are working on contingency plans, including the possibility of preventing some of the chemical from getting into the storm drains, as well as efforts to \u201cdike, dam and divert it\u201d if it does.
\u201cThis is serious,\u201d Covey said. \u201cThis is real.\u201d
Orange County health officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said those outside the evacuation zone are unlikely to face health risks, but she warned the incident \u201cis a unique situation.\u201d
\u201cWe don\u2019t have information of a similar situation where this happened,\u201d she said at a news conference Friday.
Evacuation orders have been issued for Garden Grove, about 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, as well as neighboring cities Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said Friday that the orders cover roughly 40,000 residents.
Newsom\u2019s emergency declaration unlocks additional state resources, such as state-owned properties and fairgrounds that might be available as shelter for evacuees, the governor\u2019s office said.
Steve Patterson is a correspondent in Los Angeles for NBC News.
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeFirefighters have been working through the weekend to cool a chemical tank \u201cliterally on the edge\u201d of exploding in Southern California as they worked to avert a disastrous \u201cworst-case\u201d scenario, the incident\u2019s commander said.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}