Garden Grove chemical tank update: Cleanup efforts to begin and legal claims mount

With the temperature of the unstable tank rising, crews are working to determine if the toxic chemical is still a liquid or if it has solidified.

In an update on Saturday afternoon, Orange County Fire Authority said the unstable tank at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove remains extremely hot, and crews are working around the clock to stabilize the situation.

OCFA Chief Craig Covey called this a "worst-case scenario," the worst he has faced in his 32-year career.

Authorities are warning that the threat of a leak or explosion still appears imminent at this time.

GKN Aerospace revealed that the temperature of the tank was rising by about one degree per hour, and not decreasing as hoped.

The temperature actually increased to 90 degrees from the 77 degrees it was on Friday morning, officials said.

OCFA has been bringing in people from all over the country to help tackle the situation from all angles.

"Think about an ice cube, right? When you freeze water, it starts from the outside in, until the end is solid. That's what's going on here. Have we slowed down that chemical reaction enough that it is slowly curing and losing its intensity to be able to blow up? The question that goes with that is, when it does that, it's pressurizing," Covey said.

Covey described it as a one-inch steel tank. He said experts are trying to find technology, possibly radar, that can see through the tank to detect the status of the liquid inside.

For now, crews are still working to determine if the chemical has solidifed or not.

GKN Aerospace posted a statement on its website on Saturday, saying the team is fully focused on working with emergency services and specialized teams to ensure everyone's safety.

They also apologized to residents and businesses who've had to evacuate and thanked Orange County Emergency Services for their assistance.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Orange County amid ongoing efforts to stabilize a damaged chemical tank at a facility in Garden Grove.

The proclamation directs California's Office of Emergency Services and all state government agencies to support the county and impacted local jurisdictions to address the emergency. It also unlocks additional emergency response resources and authorities, including making state-owned properties and fairgrounds available to provide shelter for evacuated residents as necessary, the governor's office said in a statement.

"Cal OES continues to work alongside our local partners to support the ongoing hazardous materials response operation. Our role is to coordinate resources, share critical information, and ensure local responders have all the resources necessary to safely respond to this dynamic situation," the agency's director, Caroline Thomas Jacobs said in a statement. "We are committed to a unified, whole-of-government response focused on keeping our communities safe."

Resources and other information for those affected by the incident are available on the Cal OES website.

City News Service contributed to this report.

The temperature inside a damaged chemical storage tank in Garden Grove has been rising by about 1 degree per hour, not cooling or stabilizing as previously believed, an OCFA official said Saturday morning.

Division Chief Craig Covey of the Orange County Fire Authority, the incident commander at the scene, said a drone on Friday had measured the tank's temperature at 77 degrees. However, a subsequent reading of a gauge indicated that the container's internal temperature was 90 degrees.

In a videotaped update posted on social media, Covay said officials are allowing the tank to "cure at a slower rate and reducing its (building) overpressure."

The OCFA is also "bringing people in from all over the country trying to come up with additional options," he added.

"Letting this thing just fail and blow up is unacceptable to us," Covey said.

He added that contingency plans are being employed in case the tank blows up or leaks, and the only people currently at risk are the firefighters and police officers on scene.

City News Service contributed to this report.

The American Red Cross has established an additional shelter for those affected by the hazardous materials incident in Garden Grove, officials announced Saturday morning.

The shelter was opened at 1:30 a.m. at Oceanview High School, located at 17071 Gothard Street in Huntington Beach, the Orange County Fire Authority said.

"This will be a congregate dormitory shelter," the OCFA said in a statement, urging evacuees to bring their own medication if possible. Officials discouraged unsolicited donations at the shelter.

As of 8 a.m., no new announcements were made about the status of the overheated chemical storage tank.

"There are no scheduled press conferences today," the OCFA said in a statement on social media. "We will continue to provide incident updates throughout the day. The next scheduled update will be provided in the 9:00 hour."