May 25 (Reuters) – Firefighters contending with a dangerously overheating industrial tank of a hazardous chemical in Southern California have eliminated the possibility of the tank exploding after a crack relieved some of the mounting pressure, they said on Monday.
Although the worst-case scenario for the tank of highly flammable methyl methacrylate had been ruled out, dangers remain, and tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders, the Orange County Fire Authority said.
The tank began overheating on Thursday at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, a city of about 172,000 people roughly 20 miles (32 km) south of downtown Los Angeles.
By Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom had declared a state of emergency and evacuation orders had been issued for an area home to tens of thousands of people as fears mounted that the tank could rupture and spill up to 7,000 gallons (26,500 liters) of toxic material or explode and endanger nearby tanks.
Firefighters celebrated the appearance of a crack in the tank over the weekend, which helped relieve pressure, and the tank had cooled slightly to 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) from over 100 F (38 C).
“That is incredibly positive news,” Craig Covey, a division chief at the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video statement.
Firefighters have been dousing the tank with water to cool it, and have taken the risk of approaching the tank to check temperatures only after the sun has gone down, officials said.
GKN, a British company, uses its Garden Grove plant to make windows and canopies for commercial and military aircraft, according to its website, and has issued apologies for the disruption its overheating tank has caused to Californians.
Besides the fear of the tank exploding, officials have worried that the toxic chemical could leak, and that vapors expelled from the tank could cause respiratory problems in people after prolonged exposure, although air-quality monitors had not detected vapor as of the latest health update cited by officials over the weekend.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen, editing by Deepa Babington and Chizu Nomiyama )
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