• Officials ordered an evacuation of Garden Grove Thursday after a chemical storage tank at an aerospace plant overheated. Thousands of residents are still unable to return to their homes.
• Officials say they will continue to monitor the air for several months and check sewers and storm drains for damage.
Thousands of people living near a damaged dangerous chemical tank in Southern California still cannot return home, even though officials say the threat of a catastrophic explosion has largely passed.
Of the approximately 50,000 evacuated, about 16,000 are still waiting for the all-clear. The tank contained methyl methacrylate, which is highly flammable.
Health officials have assured residents that there is no contamination or any smoke being released.
(Alan J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A firefighter from the Orange County Fire Authority instructs a photographer to leave the GKN Aerospace evacuation zone.
(Alan J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Nathalie Bouriche of Anaheim sits on a cot inside Freedom Hall in Fountain Valley, where she spent the night with her son, Abde Atti, who was sitting behind her after being forced out.
(Alan J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The crisis began Thursday, when firefighters responded to GKN Aerospace after a 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, an industrial chemical used in plastics and manufacturing, failed.
(Alan J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Evacuees take shelter at Freedom Hall in Fountain Valley, where the American Red Cross has set up an evacuation center.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
A drone image shows the proximity of residential homes to storage tanks at the GKN Aerospace facility.
(Gary Coronado/For The Times)
Maria Medina, 40, who was evacuated from Westminster, spends time with her children Mayrin Martínez, 4, and Armando Martínez, 9, at Mile Square Regional Park on Monday. They had been sleeping in their car since Saturday because there was no more room for them at the Freedom Hall evacuation center.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
Darlene Barreza and Angel Beltran and their cat, Felix, returned to their Stanton home on Monday. They moved into a family member’s home in Lake Elsinore.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
