Evacuation orders issued in California city over chemical tank: ‘It fails or it blows up’
An emergency hazmat incident at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, has prompted evacuations in the area, May 22, 2026. (KABC)
(CALIFORNIA) — An “emergency hazmat incident” in California has prompted evacuations, with officials warning that a chemical tank at an aerospace facility is in “crisis” and will either fail or explode.
Firefighters initially responded to a leak at an aerospace manufacturing company in Garden Grove on Thursday, for vapor releasing from a 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Officials updated Friday that there is no active gas leak or plume, but that the tank is “actively in crisis” and unable to be secured. Damage to a valve on the tank has “created additional operational challenges,” city officials said.
“There are literally two options left remaining: one, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6- to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area. Or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well,” Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said in a video update Friday.
“Most importantly, right now, there is no active gas leak, no plume in the area. We are setting up these evacuations in preparation for these two options — it fails or it blows up,” he said.
Authorities have issued evacuation orders for the surrounding area. Over a dozen schools have temporarily closed, and those adjacent to the evacuation area are canceling outdoor activities “out of an abundance of caution,” the Garden Grove Unified School District said.
Methyl methacrylate is an industrial chemical used in plastics and manufacturing.
ABC News has reached out to the aerospace manufacturing company, GKN Aerospace, for comment.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his office said.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said it is “closely monitoring the incident in Garden Grove and has deployed personnel to work alongside local partners.”
“Please heed all orders from local authorities — evacuation orders have expanded,” it said Friday.
U.S. Marines land at the objective point during a simulated bilateral small boat raid at Kin Blue Training Area, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 26, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon’s decision to send the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a 2,200-troop force, to the Middle East is fueling new speculation about whether the conflict with Iran couldinvolve U.S. ground troops, a step that would mark a dramatic escalation and potentially push the already unpopular war into a far more dangerous phase.
It could take up to two weeks, or the end of March, before the unit is in place and its presence unlikely to significantly shift the dynamics of the war on its own, experts say. A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) can deliver an initial surge of troops quickly, but seizing and holding key terrain, or sustaining a prolonged fight, would almost certainly require a far larger ground force.
Experts say the MEU would likely be used to conduct raids across the Iranian shoreline to gain a foothold in areas across the crucial oil shipping waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, which has emerged as a contested point of the conflict.
A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month showed 74% of registered voters opposed sending U.S. ground troops into Iran while 20% supported it.
Asked Tuesday if he was afraid of the Iranian regime’s assertion that U.S. boots on the ground “will be another Vietnam,” President Donald Trump replied, “No, I’m not afraid. I’m really not afraid of anything.”
Sailing from the Pacific, it will likely take up to two weeks for Marines to be in place in the Middle East, and it is not yet clear what those troops would be used for. The unit operates as a self-contained, sea-based force — essentially a floating hub capable of launching troops, aircraft and equipment without relying on nearby bases or infrastructure.
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would unlock a waterway through which 20% of the globe’s oil supply transits each day. Its closure has seen gas prices soar and markets roiled. Trump has referenced shorelines from which the Iranians can attack vessels transiting the waterway.
“Now we are pounding that area, that coast, as you know, left side,” Trump said Monday. “We’re pounding it like really pounding it hard.”
According to Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, the MEU could take part in land-based “raids” on targets along that coast.
“There’s a number of missions where you can conceivably see a MEU playing a role, either unilaterally or kind of in conjunction with maybe the deployment of larger Army units,” said Eisenstadt, who believes the deployment of the MEU was likely related to the strait.
Iranian fortifications along the coast that could “interfere with convoy operations,” Eisenstadt said, could be U.S. targets. Top military leaders have said they’ve explored the potential uses of convoys, or warship escorts, to facilitate the safe passage of commercial shipping through the strait.
Raiding parties could target missile storage bunkers that are hardened and difficult for U.S. warplanes to destroy from the air.
The idea would be to “clear out the shore and then use air power to prevent them from returning once you’ve cleared out those areas,” Eisenstadt said.
Such an operation would not by itself create conditions for smooth sailing in the strait, experts told ABC News.
“My concern is that it takes so little to disrupt the shipping industry, Eisenstadt said. “If there’s a small, you know, kind of a small residual [Iranian] capability, it could still potentially be very disruptive.”
The 2,200 Marines in the MEU would limit any operation longer than a raid, which have pre-planned withdrawals. To get on land, these types of Marine units primarily seize footholds by riding small watercraft onto beaches or by helicopter insertion.
“Normally in an amphibious assault, you have all sorts of Navy landing craft behind you to sustain the force ashore. There’s none of that. There’s none of that logistical tail that would allow them to remain ashore,” said retired Marine Col. Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor.
Leaving strategic waters in the Pacific
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit is primarily based in Japan, where it routinely trains with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on skills in high demand across the Pacific, including rapidly seizing small islands. Earlier this month, it took part in a major annual exercise that featured amphibious assault drills, marksmanship training and operations focused on capturing hostile terrain, according to the Defense Department.
Their removal from the region removes one of the primary ground combat elements in the Pacific, which could respond to a crisis with China or North Korea. Other significant combat elements in the region include the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, stationed to bolster South Korea’s frontline against Pyongyang, as well as the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska.
“That leaves a ground combat and amphibious capability gap in the region,” Carlton Haelig, an expert in military operations and fellow at the Center for New American Security, said.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based out of Camp Pendleton, California, is preparing to deploy to the Pacific, according to Pentagon imagery.
No one was injured in Woods’ rollover car crash in Jupiter Island, Florida, in March, Martin County officials said. Woods has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.
Woods did not appear at Tuesday’s hearing, but his lawyers argued for a protective order, saying the golf legend’s medication records should not be open to the public and should only be given to limited people involved in the case, like the prosecution and law enforcement, according to ABC West Palm Beach affiliate WPBF.
The prosecution conceded that Woods has a right to privacy from the general public, WPBF reported.
The judge approved the state’s request for the subpoenas and also approved the defense’s request for the protective order, permitting the medication records to be released, but restricting who gets access to them, WPBF reported.
The March 27 accident unfolded when Woods tried to pass a truck in front of him, authorities said. Woods clipped the back of the truck’s trailer, causing the golfer’s SUV to tip on its side, authorities said.
Two hydrocodone pills were found in Woods’ pants pocket, the probable cause affidavit said. A breathalyzer showed no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused to take a urine test, which is used to detect drugs or medication, authorities said.
People in Massachusetts reported hearing a loud boom Saturday afternoon, but it’s not immediately clear what it was. At approximately that same time, NOAA’s GOES-19 weather satellite Geostationary Lightning Mapper showed a burst over the Massachusetts coast. (NOAA)
(NEW YORK) — New England residents were rocked Saturday after a fast-moving meteor in the Earth’s atmosphere sent a loud boom that was heard in parts of the state.
NASA told ABC News in a statement that the meteor, also known as a “fireball,” was detected around 2:06 p.m. and was traveling at a speed of 75,000 mph.
“The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast Massachusetts and southeast New Hampshire. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise,” NASA said.
A NASA spokesperson said the fireball was not associated with any currently active meteor shower but said it was a natural object and not space debris or a satellite re-entering the atmosphere.
NASA later said it “was a daytime bolide that produced” meteorite fragments that fell “in the middle of Cape Cod Bay.”
Several people took to social media in the afternoon to post videos of the sound heard throughout the eastern part of the state.
“We are getting numerous reports from residents of hearing a loud boom sound. It was heard over the eastern part of the state. Unknown origin no reports of hazards at this time,” the Watertown Police Department said in a statement.
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security said in a statement they also received similar reports of “an audible boom and ground tremors.”
At the time the agency issued its statement, it said there were no known emergency, police or fire requests connected to the boom and there was not believed to be any public safety threat.
The United States Geological Survey said Saturday evening that the boom was from a suspected bolide, which is the scientific term for a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere.
“Unlike earthquakes which occur at discrete location in the earth, sonic boom events occur along a linear path in the atmosphere,” the USGS said.
ABC News’ Matthew Glasser contributed to this report.
