Garden Grove, California – For many Southern California residents who have yet to evacuate Chemical tank As the temperature rose, the relief they felt at finally being allowed to return home was overshadowed by the lingering fears of living so close to the struggling aviation plant.
A valve in the tank’s cooling system failed and forced 50,000 people to evacuate in and around the Orange County city of Garden Grove last week, as officials warned of the potential for a catastrophic explosion. The tank accidentally ruptured, relieving pressure and eventually allowing residents to return to their homes after the temperature remained stable without intervention.
Bobbi-Lee Smart returned home Monday but still had her purse, cat carriers and important documents ready so she could 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,” said Smart, who lives in Anaheim, next to Garden Grove. “How do we know it’s stable?”
On Tuesday, when final evacuation orders were lifted in California, Chemical tank rupture A mill in Washington state experienced another serious chemical emergency, killing people and leaving others missing the next day.
The tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields, contains 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, which is highly flammable. Exposure to this chemical can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation of the skin, eyes and throat, according to the “healthline” website. Environmental Protection Agency.
The temperature in the tank remained steady Wednesday at 91 degrees (32.8 degrees Celsius) without sprinklers, Orange County Fire Chief Brian Yau said.
“The team will constantly monitor the temperature,” Yao said.
Health officials assured residents that no pollution or fumes were released, and that they will continue to monitor the air for several months and check sewers and storm drains.
Smart said the company should have been examined earlier because it had a history of violations. She feels the company needs to leave the densely populated working-class neighborhood of family-owned stores, but not before compensating residents and business owners.
“The truth is that the company has broken the public’s trust,” Smart said.
UK-based GKN Aerospace said it was cooperating with authorities and working with non-profit organizations to help the community recover.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of a couple who lives near GKN says the company failed to protect neighbors from “anticipated chemical releases, migration of toxic fumes, evacuation conditions, and catastrophic industrial failure.”
Residents have reported strong odors, respiratory irritation, headaches and dizziness and are feeling anxious, the suit says.
At a City Council meeting Tuesday night, residents questioned why the chemical plant was allowed to operate so close to homes.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is investigating. Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein pledged to hold the company accountable.
Last year, GKN agreed to pay more than $900,000 to state regulators to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s website.
OSHA has inspected the company’s Garden Grove facility four times since 2018, resulting in 10 violations, according to public records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. No further information was immediately available about these violations.
In 2019, the California Department of Industrial Relations filed a request in Orange County Superior Court that a judge order the company to pay $2,898 in unpaid civil penalties.
The citation, described in court records obtained by The Times, alleged that the company in April 2018 “failed to ensure that all machinery and equipment in service were inspected or maintained as recommended by the manufacturer.”
It does not appear that any of the violations were related to the overheating of the tank.
The tank will likely have to be replaced, said Andrew Welton, an engineering professor at Purdue University.
Wilton said the California crisis is reminiscent of a crisis Chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia in 2014When storage tanks malfunctioned at a facility owned by Freedom Industries. The leak prevented the capital and surrounding areas from using tap water for several days. Businesses were temporarily closed and hundreds of people went to emergency rooms with problems ranging from nausea to rashes.
That disaster inspired a new state law requiring more inspections and registration for aboveground storage tanks. Freedom later declared bankruptcy and two company officials were sent to prison on federal pollution charges.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles.