In Garden Grove, California, all remaining residents displaced by a damaged chemical tank were told they could return home late Tuesday, officials said, ending a mass evacuation that had gripped the community since the previous Thursday. Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey announced the lifting of the final orders during a public meeting, telling the crowd, “All residents will go home.”
The crisis began on Thursday when a tank holding methyl methacrylate — a chemical used in manufacturing plastics and coatings — began to overheat at a facility in Garden Grove. Fearing a possible explosion, authorities ordered roughly 50,000 people to evacuate across a broad area of the city. Over the weekend, a crack formed in the tank’s exterior, inadvertently releasing pressure that safety officials later said likely prevented a catastrophic blast. That turn of events allowed most evacuees to return to their homes over the Memorial Day holiday, even as a tighter perimeter was maintained around the immediate site.
On Tuesday, emergency crews watched the tank’s temperature fall and hold steady for four hours without the use of cooling sprinklers — the condition that officials had set for lifting the last evacuation zone. Once the fire authority confirmed the stable reading, the remaining 16,000 people were cleared to go home.
During the Tuesday meeting, which grew raucous at times, residents pressed local leaders for answers. They demanded that the city hold the company operating the tank financially and legally accountable, and they questioned why a chemical capable of a devastating explosion was allowed to sit in their neighborhood. Details about the facility’s ownership and any pending enforcement actions were not immediately available.