Garden Grove chemical tank cools, risk of catastrophic explosion eliminated

Orange County Fire Authority officials said Monday that the temperature of a chemical tank in Garden Grove has cooled, eliminating the risk of a catastrophic explosion.

“We are happy to report that the threat of a BLEVE is now off the table,” Orange County Fire Authority officials said in a post on X Monday. BLEVE stands for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.

The exact temperature had previously been unknown because the tank’s gauge could not measure temperatures above 100 degrees, raising concerns about a massive explosion as crews monitored the situation.

OCFA Chief TJ McGovern spoke with KTLA Monday morning about the continuing risk for smaller blasts and how that will affect the 50,000 residents under evacuation orders.

“The subject matter experts made the evacuation zones. That was based off the tank. That was based off of the chemical inside and should there be a BLEVE, what is the radius for a BLEVE? That’s why those evacuation zones were set up there,” McGovern said in the interview. “Now that that’s off the table, we’re going to evaluate the zones for an explosion. So, in theory, the explosion zone is probably going to be reduced. So, that’s what we’re doing right now as we mitigate one step at a time.”

More on this developing story at KTLA.