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Outrage, frustrations grow in California as evacuated residents await word on possible chemical blast

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Frustrations boiled over Saturday as displaced residents and community
leaders awaiting the possible explosion of a chemical storage tank in
southern California demanded answers from public officials — and
consequences for the company behind the potential disaster. 

About 50,000 people were affected by mass evacuation orders in Garden
Grove and parts of neighboring cities, and some of them posted on social
media about suffering financial hits. At least half a dozen law firms
pledged to file lawsuits seeking class-action status on behalf of those
affected. 

U.S. Rep. Derek Tran, whose district includes the evacuated area, called
for a “deep investigation” into the situation at GKN Aerospace, a
manufacturer of parts for commercial and military aircraft. He said he
also reached out to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. 

“Yesterday, I spoke with the leader of GKN and urged them to take full
accountability for the panic and anxiety residents are experiencing
across the region,” Tran wrote on X. “I continue to call on FEMA and the
EPA to provide immediate federal resources to assist with recovery
operations.” 

The Orange County district attorney’s office announced its own
investigation and set up a hotline for insiders to “assist law
enforcement in investigating the origin of the event and identify those
responsible.” 

In an interview late Saturday, Orange County DA Todd Spitzer called the
situation “horrific.” 

“It is certainly unreasonable to believe that any responsible defense
contractor that makes aircraft windows and uses volatile chemicals in
the process would have failures of its cooling system that maintains the
safety level of its chemicals,” Spitzer said in an interview. “There
will be incredible costs associated with this situation and I’m going to
be front and center in making sure people are made whole.” 

Tipsters, including any GKN employees, were asked to call the OC DA
anonymous tip hotline at 714-347-8714, to email prosecutors at
tipster@ocdistrictattorney.gov, or to submit tips directly online. 

Evacuated residents waiting to hear when they could return home, or
whether the tank would explode, complained about the slow trickle of
updates throughout the day on Saturday. 

Viri Morales, 43, a behavioral interventionist at Brookhurst Elementary,
evacuated her West Garden Grove Home with her daughter, son,
granddaughter and two cats Friday afternoon. She lives less than 1.5
miles north from GKN Aerospace, where officials warn of the growing
threat of a chemical explosion or leak. 

“Had this happened in Laguna or in other places that have higher income
brackets, would the response be as slow to get the information out? Or
would it even have gotten to this point?” she asked. 

Fire officials have called the threat unprecedented in their experience
and said they were scrambling to figure out how to head off an explosion
or leak and protect people and property. That included reaching out to
experts around the country, they said. 

But the Orange County Fire Authority’s sporadic video updates largely
drew a mix of confusion and outrage, as well as some praise. 

“My parents’ house will be gone if this explodes, that’s everything they
have,” wrote Ariel Lopez, a Garden Grove resident, on Facebook in
response to one of the updates. “So many lawsuits are gonna come in.” 

Resident Gina Dorio called one of the updates a “(expletive) joke” in a
separate comment. 

“After all is said and done, we won’t get any answers and it will be
swept under the rug just like the firework incident in LA,” she wrote. 

In 2021, bomb technicians with the Los Angeles Police Department packed
42 pounds of confiscated fireworks inside a containment vehicle in South
L.A., exceeding the maximum capacity of the vehicle’s blast chamber,
according to reports. The resulting explosion injured 17 people,
displaced 75 residents, damaged nearly 40 vehicles, and left three homes
red-tagged. 

Though the comments on X were overwhelmingly negative, with those
evacuated begging for more information or some type of timeline
indicating when their ordeal would be over, others thanked the Orange
County Fire Authority’s first responders for trying to mitigate the
threat, and praised Incident Commander Craig Covey for his sporadic
video updates on social media. 

“Thank you Chief Covey !! You are doing an AMAZING job. Please continue
to be transparent. Even though it is scary, it is the very best way to
handle these things,” wrote Jane Griffin on Facebook. “We know you and
OFCA are doing everything possible to protect us, as you always do.
Please be safe.” 

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/2026/05/24/outrage-frustrations-grow-as-r
esidents-awaiting-word-on-possible-garden-grove-chemical-blast-find-few-a
nswers/ 

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