Evacuation zone reduced with threat of massive explosion eliminated at Orange County chemical tank

The threat of a catastrophic explosion at the Garden Grove chemical tank "has been eliminated," officials announced Monday.

In a video posted to social media, the Orange County Fire Authority said the tank "has released its pressure." Officials added that the tank's temperature has stabilized and is reducing. It's currently at 93 degrees.

Although an explosion appears to have been averted, evacuation orders are still in effect. It's unclear when residents will be allowed to return home.

Efforts are underway to help those evacuees in Garden Grove cast their ballots in the upcoming California primary election, which is a little more than a week away.

Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen says the Registrar of Voters will be sending staff to emergency shelters within the next day or two to help evacuees cast their ballots.

"I know the election is around the corner and most of folks have left their ballot at home. Do not go home and get your ballot. We will be bringing the Registrar of Voters to the shelters to make sure that you can get access to your ballot," she said in a video posted on X.

The registrar's office says all voters, including those displaced by the evacuation, may visit any of the county's vote centers to cast their ballots.

Meanwhile, one of the centers that was supposed to open this weekend at the Garden Grove Sports and Recreation Center is closed until further notice because the site is being used as an evacuation center.

Our investigative team has been looking into records for the company, GKN Aerospace, that owns the chemical tank, and we found several violations the company has faced.

According to records for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the company was hit with a notice of violation for several issues in April 2021. That included failure to maintain records, failure to obtain permits and other infractions.

Our investigative team has been looking into records for the company, GKN Aerospace, that owns the chemical tank, and we found several violations the company has faced.

A six-page document shows the company returned to "in compliance" and the case was closed after it paid nearly $1 million.

Then in March of 2025, the company was put in "notice to comply" before returning back to "in compliance" in November. That minor violation was over failure to provide records.

Eyewitness News reached out to GKN Aerospace for comment on the violations and they directed us to their most recent statement on the chemical tank crisis, which says, in part: "We continue to monitor the condition of the affected material and are working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak."

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has opened a criminal investigation into the chemical tank crisis.

He's ordered GKN Aerospace to preserve all records pertaining to the incident and the equipment.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has opened a criminal investigation into the chemical tank crisis.

The prosecutor's office has also established an anonymous tip line and online reporting form, calling on anyone - especially GKN employees - with information to come forward.

The district attorney wants to know how the disaster escalated so quickly.

"We need to know the answers to what everybody is asking," Spitzer said. "How could GKN, with a system failure of a cooling system on a dangerous chemical... how in the world in an urban setting did they not have any redundant system to back up the cooling system that failed?"

"To me, on its face, it's unconscionable."

The situation has forced 50,000 people out of their homes. It's still unclear what initially caused the material in the tank to overheat last week.