California rushes to contain toxic chemical leak, state of emergency declared

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:02]In other big news we are tracking.

[00:00:03]California Governor Gavin Newsome has declared a state of emergency as crews race to contain a toxic chemical leak at a manufacturing facility in Orange County. A tank containing over 20,000 L of methylmethacrylate, a highly volatile and flammable substance used to make plastic, is at risk of failure. Officials are warning more than 40,000 people are under evacuation orders as a precaution.

[00:00:29]Officials say the temperature in the tank was higher than previously thought and it is continuing to rise. The cause of the failing tank still is under investigation and emergency crews have been spraying the tank with water to try and stabilize the temperature. With me now is Captain Steve Conaldi, public information officer with Orange County Fire Authority. Captain Conaldi, appreciate you joining us in what must be a very busy time for you. Thank you so much.

[00:00:56]>> Yes, thanks for having us on. So, what is the latest on the situation right now in Orange County with that plant?

[00:01:02]>> Well, the latest is there's three tanks.

[00:01:03]So, tank number one has approximately 7,000 gallons of this chemical MMA as you mentioned and that tank on Thursday night, Thursday afternoon around 3:30 or so, it started off gasing and the tank started bulging. So, our firefighters got in there right away. They put an unmanned ground monitor there to start cooling it down and then got back safely. Plus, the facility had these sprinklers. So, those sprinklers are cooling it down. Unfortunately, the chemical inside that is highly volatile, highly toxic, and [snorts] highly flammable is heating up inside. So, yesterday the temperature was about 77°.

[00:01:46]Last late last night, we got crews in there again and again. We're working with experts from across the nation.

[00:01:52]Basically, these experts are um hazmat experts, specialists, chemists, scientists, and they're trying to do the best they can to come up with a plan.

[00:02:02]So, last night they went in there, they were able to open up the top of the tank and get a temperature reading inside, and that that temperature unfortunately was about 90°.

[00:02:12]Um unfortunately, um you that that was a concern. So, we had been putting a stabilizing chemical in there, an inhibitor, and that's that's basically the best thing that we could do >> and to to cool um basically to to gel it up. It's kind of like an ice cube. It basically starts freezing from the outside first and then in the middle there's still liquid until that completely freezes. So, we were able to put the stabilizing chemical, this inhibitor in tank number two. We were working on tank three last night that has about 15,000 gallons and unfortunately we determined that that that first tank was about 90° and so we had to back everybody off.

[00:02:56]>> Okay. So explain to us um captain what are the scenarios that you are working towards the likelihood of what all could happen because we understand the evacuation orders are out for some 40,000 people over there. Yeah, roughly about 50,000 now, you know, in parts of six cities and the unincorporated areas.

[00:03:17]So, parts of Garden Grove, Stanton, Westminster, Cypress, Buena Park, and Anaheim, and a small portion of the unincorporated areas of Orange County.

[00:03:26]So, um that's a lot of people. Roughly about 50,000 residents in the area have been evacuated.

[00:03:34]>> What makes this chemical so dangerous? I mean, what could go horribly wrong if, like, I asked you, what are the scenarios that you're preparing for?

[00:03:42]>> Well, because it's highly volatile, it's highly toxic, it's highly flammable. So, the best case scenario is that it hardens up, it gels up. Um, but if we have a failure, then basically that could leak out all this this, you know, gallons. So there's approximately 70,000 gallons that could leak up and that would have to be contained, damned, dyed and contained there. And then the worst cons scenario would be a catastrophic explosion. And there's these two other tanks. That's why we were trying to add those chemical inhibitors in there to stabilize it to start jelling up those tanks so it wouldn't add if there was a catastrophic failure and there was a fire or an explosion.

[00:04:25]>> Right. Captain Steve Conaldi, thank you so much for joining us tonight and wishing you and your team all the very best on the ground. Thank you.