All 50,000 residents evacuated from the area around a GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove, California, were allowed to return home Tuesday after a chemical tank that had overheated and threatened to explode stabilized, but the relief was undercut by persistent fear among residents who say they no longer trust the air they breathe or the assurances of safety officials.
The crisis began last week when a valve on the tank’s cooling system failed, causing the chemicals inside to heat. Officials warned that a catastrophic explosion was possible, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people in Garden Grove and neighboring Anaheim. The tank eventually cracked by chance, relieving pressure and allowing the temperature to drop without further intervention. By Tuesday, all evacuation orders had been lifted.
Bobbi-Lee Smart, who lives in Anaheim, returned home Monday but said she still keeps her suitcase, cat carriers, and important documents ready to leave at a moment’s notice. “I won’t even open the doors and windows in my house because I don’t know for sure that the air is safe,” she told the Associated Press. “How do we know it is stable?”
Smart’s reaction reflects a broader anxiety in the community, where residents have been living with the knowledge that a major industrial incident could have occurred in their neighborhood. The tank contained chemicals whose identity has not been publicly specified, and residents have expressed frustration at the lack of detailed information about what they were exposed to.
The GKN Aerospace facility has faced prior problems, though specifics were not immediately available, according to the Associated Press.
The same day the final evacuation orders were lifted in California, a chemical tank ruptured at a paper mill in Washington state, killing people and leaving others missing. The juxtaposition of the two incidents underscored the risks posed by industrial chemical storage near populated areas.
Officials have not announced any new safety measures for the GKN Aerospace plant, and the company has not commented on the cause of the valve failure. The incident is under investigation.