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

The Orange County Fire Authority is clarifying that there is only one known crack in a chemical tank at the center of an emergency response in Garden Grove.

In a post on social media, the OCFA said there is one known crack in the tank, plus peeling of the weather stripping on the exterior.

Earlier Sunday, a public information officer with OCFA told Eyewitness News there were multiple cracks.

Authorities also noted that ongoing atmospheric monitoring confirms there are no chemicals leaking from the tank.

An all-night mission will be conducted by crews with the Orange County Fire Authority to confirm if the risk of catastrophic explosion has been eliminated at GKN Aerospace, according to Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern.

In an update on social media, McGovern said crews will be working all night to check if the pressure in the tank has been released and that the BLEVE threat has been eliminated.

"The BLEVE threat is the worst-case catastrophic event that we have been talking about. We are not there yet. We need to run this operation tonight," McGovern said.

BLEVE stands for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.

McGovern said residents are being asked to continue to stay out of the evacuation zone. He said authorities will provide an update on the operation on Monday.

Disneyland Resort says it is monitoring an ongoing chemical incident at an industrial facility in Garden Grove, but as of Sunday, there are no impacts to theme park operations.

Disneyland is approximately five miles from GKN Aerospace, where an unstable tank carrying a toxic chemical is at risk of exploding or spilling.

An evacuation zone approximately nine square miles in size has forced the displacement of tens of thousands of Orange County residents.

Despite this, Disneyland Resort is not within the evacuation zone.

"While the situation remains fluid and we may see road closures and minor traffic disruptions, there is no direct impact on park operations at this time," Disneyland wrote in an update to guests.

In an update on Sunday, the Orange County Fire Authority stressed that any areas outside of the established evacuation zone are "considered completely safe and day-to-day activities can continue as normal."

Orange County's top prosecutor, District Attorney Todd Spitzer, has launched a criminal investigation into the chemical tank incident in Garden Grove.

Orange County's top prosecutor, District Attorney Todd Spitzer, has launched a criminal investigation into the chemical tank incident in Garden Grove.

His office has established an anonymous tipline and online reporting form, calling on anyone with information to come forward. Spitzer says he is also ordering GKN to preserve records regarding the incident.

"I've served them with notice not to destroy documents, not to throw anything out. Don't get the shredder started. Don't do anything. I wanted to make sure they couldn't claim after the fact, when we're all analyzing what happened, potentially in a court of law, say, 'No one told us we couldn't run our shredders 24/7.' The fact of the matter is, we don't have any indication, we're starting from basically zero, and we're going to engage in a full-blown investigation, either in conjunction with other law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies, or on our own," Spitzer said. "What's important is everybody's safety. I don't want anybody to think about the work the district attorney's office is doing. I'm doing the work I'm doing because I've been a litigator for over 35 years, and I know how these things work out, and some day we may have to tell the story about how it happened and who's responsible."

Anyone with information related to the circumstances of what led up to the incident, including but not limited to specific details of the release, information about the industrial operations of the facility, the quality and frequency of maintenance of the tanks and systems at issue and any other relevant information at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, is encouraged to call the Orange County District Attorney Anonymous Tip Hotline at 714-347-8714 or fill out an anonymous online form at www.ocdistrictattorney.gov.

Anonymous tips can also be emailed to tipster@ocdistrictattorney.gov.