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Firefighters contending with an overheating tank of hazardous chemicals in Southern California on Monday said an overnight operation had eliminated the possibility of the tank exploding.
The tank of highly flammable methyl methacrylate began overheating on Thursday at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, a city of about 172,000 people roughly 35 kilometres south of Los Angeles.
By Saturday, California Gov. 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 26,500 litres 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.
“That is incredibly positive news,” Craig Covey, a division chief at the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video statement.
Fire officials say a potential crack in a pressurized tank containing a toxic and highly flammable chemical at an aerospace manufacturing plant in California may help avert a cataclysmic explosion as tens of thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate.
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