An estimated 40,000 people were evacuated in Southern California on Friday after officials warned that a tank containing about 7,000 gallons of a toxic chemical at a facility in Orange County would either fail and crack open or explode.
The tank contains methyl methacrylate, a “highly toxic” substance which can impact the respiratory system, and can cause skin and eye irritation, HAZMAT program manager, Division Chief Nick Freeman said.
The chemical is also “extremely flammable, and in its current state, very reactive,” Freeman added.
While responders succeeded in cooling the tank, attempts to neutralize the chemical within failed when faulty valves rendered the solution impossible.
Tank set to leak or explode
“Essentially, we’re at two current options and outcomes of this tank. One, it fails, and cracks, and all the product leaks out onto the ground,” Orange County Fire Authority incident commander Craig Coby told reporters on Friday.
“The other option that was told to us is that it blows up,” he added.
In the event of a chemical leak, which Coby refers to as “the best case scenario,” the thousands of gallons of the toxic chemical will be contained by containment and sand barriers to prevent it from entering storm drains, river channels, or the ocean.
Hazmat teams will go in, neutralize, and mitigate the plume or toxic vapors that will be coming off the leak and return the community to their homes, Coby said.
Coby announced that a team had been assembled “to think outside a box,” in order to find a new solution, but that the authorities did not know how much longer the tank would last.
“We also have a set temperature where, when it reaches that point, we know the tank is going into thermal runaway, and we’re going to pull everybody out of the area, make sure it’s safe, and let the tank do what it’s going to do,” Coby said.
