The next few hours will be critical in the battle to contain the OC chemical explosion
Days after a mass evacuation was ordered in Orange County, the next few hours could be crucial in dealing with an unstable chemical tank at the Garden Grove airport that threatens to explode or cause a major spill.
The latest development came Sunday night, when officials announced an “overnight operation” to determine whether the tank in Garden Grove is still at risk of exploding.
Here’s what we know:
Great performance
The operation, about which there were few details, will be “to ensure that the pressure in the tank is released and that the BLEVE threat is eliminated,” said TJ McGovern, interim chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, in a video posted on social media before 9 pm Sunday.
BLEVE stands for “boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.” McGovern on Sunday described it as “the worst incident we’ve been talking about.”
“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We have to carry out this operation tonight. Please help us. Do not enter the exit. Let’s carry out our operation, tomorrow we will be giving you information about what happened tonight.”
Rising temperature
Officials said Sunday that an Orange County pressurized tank — full of a toxic chemical and in danger of exploding — had reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest reading on the scale.
“The tank was 100 degrees, or at least as high as the temperature can go,” said Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange) told reporters Sunday evening.
On Saturday morning, the temperature was 90 degrees, and on Friday, it was 77, officials said earlier. The goal was to reduce the temperature inside the tank to 50 degrees.
It is not clear what temperature would cause an explosion; officials have not released this information publicly.
A ‘potential crack’ offers hope
Earlier in the day, McGovern said firefighters overnight found “a possible crack in the tank, which may be depressurizing.”
“With this new information, it could change our trajectory and our strategy in this event,” McGovern said Sunday morning. “We’re not there yet, but this was a step in the right direction.”
Lee Zeldin, director of the US Environmental Protection Agency, expressed hope on Sunday morning.
“I’m told this morning that the most likely scenario is one of low-volume releases, where local authorities will be able to monitor, mitigate and contain the threat,” he said during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Before there was any indication that there might be a rupture in the tank, officials had said they had a set temperature — without disclosing the number — that would require paramedics and chemists to be evacuated from the area where the tanks were located.
“We also have a set temperature where, when it gets to that point, we know the tank is going to go into a hot spot, and we’re going to get everyone out of the area, make sure it’s safe, and let the tank do what it’s going to do,” said Craig Covey, chief of the Orange County Fire Authority.
