Newsom Declares Emergency Over California Chemical Crisis

(MENAFN) California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County on Saturday as a hazardous chemical crisis at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove showed no signs of abating — with authorities warning of the potential for a catastrophic, uncontrolled release of toxic gases.

In a post on X, Newsom said state agencies had been mobilized for over 24 hours to back local responders and safeguard public safety as emergency operations pressed on.

The declaration was triggered by escalating concerns over a tank at the GKN Aerospace facility holding an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate — a volatile and hazardous industrial chemical — which authorities said had begun overheating and venting toxic gases into the surrounding area.

Newsom cautioned that despite round-the-clock response efforts, the risk of a "catastrophic failure" remained very real, and that local authorities simply did not have the capacity to manage an incident of this magnitude — making state intervention unavoidable.

The governor also confirmed that the California National Guard stood ready for deployment to bolster emergency response and relief operations should the situation deteriorate further.

The crisis has already inflicted severe disruption on the surrounding community. Evacuation orders were issued Friday for more than 44,000 residents as the chemical leak risk first emerged. Several schools in the vicinity have since been shuttered, and sections of major roads have been closed, according to US media reports.

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