What changes for Garden Grove residents: crews this week began removing neutralized methyl methacrylate (MMA) from two storage tanks at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, a first phase of a multiweek cleanup that follows a May 21 cooling-system failure that triggered mass evacuations across north Orange County.
Specialized removal starts after delay
The Orange County Health Care Agency said the operation, which began the week of June 29, was originally planned for early June but was postponed because crews did not have all the specialized transportation equipment needed to move the neutralized chemical safely.
Agency spokeswoman Salma Elshakre told FOX 11 Los Angeles the postponement stemmed from that equipment shortage. County officials said the work will take several days and will use multiple safety protocols, environmental protections and continuous air monitoring around the site.
What crews are removing and how
- Crews are removing neutralized MMA from two of the facility’s three storage tanks using temperature-controlled containers.
- The material will be transported to a licensed hazardous-waste disposal facility.
- The third tank, which developed a pressure-relieving crack during the emergency, requires a separate removal strategy and will be handled in a later phase.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tank capacity | 34,000 gallons (one tank involved in the incident) |
| Approximate MMA inside | ~7,000 gallons at time of overheating |
| Tanks being emptied | Two |
| Damaged tank | One (cracked, separate plan needed) |
Background and community impact
The emergency began May 21, when GKN Aerospace reported a failure in the cooling system for a chemical storage tank. As the tank’s temperature rose, officials feared rupture or explosion. On May 22, emergency responders expanded evacuation orders across parts of Garden Grove and neighboring cities; at the incident’s peak, roughly 50,000 residents were displaced while firefighters, hazardous-materials teams and industry experts stabilized the situation.
"We didn’t receive all the resources needed in time to start the removal process,"
The county attributed the earlier delay to the shortage of specialized transport equipment. Officials have not provided a timetable beyond saying the current phase will last several days and involve continuous air monitoring to protect nearby residents.
What residents should know and watch for
Local officials stress that the removal uses neutralized material and that ongoing air monitoring and environmental protections are in place during the operation. Residents near the facility should monitor official channels — the Orange County Health Care Agency and Orange County Fire Authority — for any advisories or changes in air-monitoring results.
This removal phase does not address the damaged tank; county officials said a separate strategy will be required to remove materials from that tank safely and that work will occur in a later phase.
News Block will continue to follow updates from county agencies, the Orange County Fire Authority and GKN Aerospace as the cleanup progresses and when officials release monitoring data or revised schedules.
