If a damaged chemical tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove explodes, it could emit a toxic vapor that has a “fruity and heavy smell,” Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County’s health officer, said Friday afternoon.
“Smelling it doesn’t mean you reach a level that causes symptoms, but we don’t want you to smell that, so we need to know if you’re smelling it,” Chinsio-Kwong said in a video posted on social media.
There are three large tanks containing a highly toxic chemical called methyl methacrylate, or MMA, used to make plastic, that are in crisis around the 12000 block of Western Avenue in Garden Grove.
The most compromised tank has about 7,000 gallons of the chemical left in it, authorities have said.
“In this situation, our biggest concern is when this chemical reacts, and the temperatures rise, it can cause a vapor,” Chinsio-Kwong said. “My biggest concern is that if that vapor goes into the air and people inhale that, it causes significant damage.”
She said inhaling the vapor can lead to irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, headaches and nausea. Prolonged exposure can cause a person to feel dizzy or drunk and can cause severe respiratory issues.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District had not detected the chemical in the air as of Friday afternoon, she said in the video posted just after 4:40 p.m.
“You are all safe as long as you are out of the zone that was determined to be an evacuation zone,” she said.