Questions and concerns remain for neighbors of O.C. chemical crisis

I decided to settle in Orange County for the same reasons my maternal grandparents did when they arrived from the frozen Midwest in the 1950s: stunning beaches, clean air and the comfortable predictability and safety of life behind the so-called Orange Curtain.

- By HANNAH FRY

JASON ARMOND Los Angeles Times

THOUSANDS evacuated from their homes around a GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove in late May.

But that sense of security which drew generations of families to this place was shattered Memorial Day weekend when a pressurized tank containing a toxic chemical at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove was at risk of exploding and leveling homes.

Thankfully, an explosion, which would have certainly caused catastrophic damage, was avoided. But the tanks, which contain a highly reactive liquid chemical known as methyl methacrylate used to make materials such as plexiglass, are still at the facility.

Plans to remove the chemical from the tanks last week were postponed with no new date announced as of Tuesday.

The feeling of safety is gone

The ordeal has changed the way neighbors feel about living adjacent to the aerospace company.

It’s clear Ruben Delgado and his wife, Nancy, take great pride in their single-story house on Santa Rosalia Street, which sits just 100 yards from the tanks at GKN Aerospace.