Evacuation orders issued for 40,000 people in California over explosion threat

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: ABC News

In what is being called an "unprecedented" situation, tens of thousands of people in Southern California were told to leave their homes Friday, with officials issuing a dire warning that a chemical tank at an aerospace facility is in "crisis" and will either fail or explode.

Firefighters initially responded to a leak at the GKN Aerospace manufacturing company in Garden Grove on Thursday, for vapor releasing from a 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, which is used in plastic manufacturing, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

On Friday, the situation in the city, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles, had grown more dire, with officials warning that, though there was no active gas leak or plume, the tank was "actively in crisis" and unable to be secured.

40,000 under evacuation orders

"There are literally two options left remaining: one, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6- to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area. Or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well," Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said in a video update Friday.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather-news/articles/evacuation-orders-issued-for-40000-people-in-california-over-explosion-threat-031625380.html

[NJCher]

1. what a nightmare

I'll bet that's some expensive real estate surrounding that area. I can't imagine how awful it would be to have to evacuate my home over something like this.

Where would you go? And what about worries from exposure thus far?

This is going to be one expensive catastrophe. My heart goes out to the residents of the area, homeowners and renters alike.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. Ouch

[tblue37]

3. If it explodes people will lose everything in their homes.

[dalton99a]

4. What GKN Aerospace makes

Before the chemical crisis, the plant on Western Avenue was primarily known as a worldwide leading manufacturer of cockpit windshields, jet canopies and aviation windows for civil and military aircraft. The site, which employs 540, even developed a line of special bullet-resistant glass.

GKN Aerospace’s Orange County site is one of 36 plants around the world operated by a massive company that started off in 1759 as an ironworks operation in South Wales.

Through the centuries, the United Kingdom-based firm has evolved into an international supplier of jet engines, landing gear, plane bodies and airplane windows, known as transparencies. According to the company’s website, GKN Aerospace parts are used in 90% of the passenger planes, helicopters and fighter jets flown around the world.

Aviation enthusiasts will recognize some of the Garden Grove facility’s accomplishments. It manufactures the canopy for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet as well as the windows for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Airbus A350, HondaJet and Bombardier C-Series.

The windows are built to withstand extreme conditions, such as bird strikes and high pressure. GKN Aerospace has two other transparency manufacturing sites in the United States. Two more company facilities in San Diego County manufacture aerostructures, engine systems and special military technologies.

https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/22/garden-grove-plant-leading-maker-of-worldwide-aviation-windows-canopies/