California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency for Orange County, Calif., over a hazardous chemical leak that could cause an explosion. File Photo by Jonathan Alcorn/UPI | License Photo
May 23 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Orange County, Calif., in response to a hazardous chemical incident there.
Residents and businesses started to be evacuated on Friday afternoon after a tank containing methyl methacrylate in Garden Grove, Calif., at the GKN Aerospace manufacturing plant started to leak vapor, KABC and The Orange County Register reported.
The tank started to heat on Thursday, started to bulge and reached what is called a "boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion," Craig Covey, an Orange County Fire Authority division chief, told The Los Angeles Times.
More than 44,000 people have been evacuated from the area because officials are concerned that the tank could either explode or fail and begin to leak, though they said if the tank leaks -- which is also bad -- it means the chemical at least would no longer be at risk of igniting.
