California Chemical Disaster: Guv Seeks White House Help As Toxic Tank Risks Explosion | N18G

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]New details out of California. Governor Gavin Newsome has just submitted a request to the White House for federal assistance as officials work to cool down a tank containing a toxic chemical that could leak into the air or trigger an explosion. About 50,000 people are being asked to stay away from that evacuation zone you see there. Last hour, I spoke with the Orange County Fire Author Authority Division Chief who said a crack in the tank could be the key to preventing a catastrophe.

[00:00:30]We know there's a crack and what we are trying to confirm is that crack releasing the pressure. So our biggest concern right now is is this tank pressurized? When we remove that element, this is definitely a step in the right direction. We're seeing indicators that we think that the pressure has been released and by the next couple hours, uh we might have to do another operation for it just to confirm it. And once we do that, that's when we're definitely going to change our strategic approach and start um focusing in on the explosion potential rather than the blevy. Right now, we're worried about the levy piece of it.

[00:01:10]>> So, let's bring in an expert here, Elias Picazo. He's an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, let's start first explaining to people what this chemical is and and why it's a threat. It's it's known as MMA. Um, walk people through what that is. I I understand it's used to make plastic.

[00:01:33]>> Yeah. First of all, thank you for having me. Uh, your question is two parts. What is it? Why is it useful? And maybe what are the hazards, what it does to us. Um, MMA is a monomer. Um, and it can react with another version of itself, another monomer to form a dimer. You can hear in the prefixes mono, die, tri, tetra, going up to polymer, meaning many. And it's these polymers that are very useful in making thermoplastics like you mentioned. They're durable, they're transparent, they're lightweight, and so they can be used in many applications in our households and in the aerospace or automobile or many other industries um as glass substitutes in many other applications. And so that's why it is very useful as a monomer. It's a low molecular weight unit. It's volatile and that's where the hazards come in. At high concentrations, it can if inhaled cause respiratory damage or irritation and through prolonged exposure, it can uh cause neurological or organ damage.

[00:02:33]So that's why usually when we work with this molecule or this chemical, it's under very controlled environments using a fume hood or PPE with um lab codes, safety goggles and gloves and all other PPE measures. And so give people a sense of how rare it is that we're seeing what we're seeing. Is this something that happens a lot? I know you said that they're volatile, but uh this seems pretty extreme, but how would you assess it?

[00:03:02]>> Yeah, it's not very common. I think the uh what makes this dangerous is really the scale. Um working with this much material at an industrial scale is why the explosion is even in the conversation. So when one monomer reacts with another or a dimer reacts with another monomer etc. um it's known as an exothermic reaction meaning that the reaction itself releases heat. In a controlled environment like a laboratory setting you can add a catalyst or initiate the reaction with heat and you can control it. It's smaller scale and again it's just within your control within your parameters. But here um we have a thermal runaway or potential for a thermal runaway where uh that's the problem in itself. The reaction produces heat, but heat also initiates the reaction. And it's this vicious cycle.

[00:03:48]>> And so, okay, so to the degree to your point about the heat, the tank's gauge maxed out at 100° last night. Uh, obviously they're trying to get that down. And as I just spoke with that fire official, they think they're making progress in in stabilizing the situation. But but in your expertise, what needs to happen? What are you watching for to see if this is going to be okay? We're going to avert a disaster here.

[00:04:14]>> Yeah, I think um the same as the people involved have been describing, it sounds like there are two main potential outcomes. One, the runaway gets out of control. It builds up a lot of temperature and pressure within the tank and you have this explosion and that's the worst of the two options because you in addition to having the blast damage, you also have potential fires and flames. In California with a history of dry conditions, if it then touches something that's combustible, um the compound being flammable, you can also have fire hazards. Uh the other option is um a tank failure. And I know failure sounds really bad, but this in this case it's actually the better of two options where if the tank cracks then um depending on where the crack is, you can either remove the liquid from the tank or the gas can remove itself from the tank relieving the pressure buying more time and dissipating or depleting the unreacted monomer from the situation causing any potential explosion. Well, one going down in probability and two if it happens being less severe. All right, Elias Picazo, thank you for your expertise.