Fire and law enforcement officials in Garden Grove, Calif., on Saturday look at a map of a chemical plant after a leak from a large storage tank at the GKN Aerospace facility. On Monday they announced the possibility of a catastrophic explosion of the malfunctioning tank had been eliminated. Photo by Ted Soqui/EPA
May 25 (UPI) -- A malfunctioning 37,000-gallon tank holding toxic chemicals in Orange County, Calif., no longer poses a threat for a catastrophic explosion, local fire officials said Monday.
Nearly 50,000 Orange County residents in and around Garden Grove, Calif., have been evacuated since Friday due to a threat of an explosion at the GKN Aerospace facility, located about 33 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The overheated tank holds methyl methacrylate, or MMA, a flammable, toxic and highly volatile substance used in the production of acrylic plastics.
But after officials reported seeing a pressure-relieving crack develop in the tank on Sunday, 24 hours later they announced the possibility of destructive blast was over.
