Massive blast ruled out at California chemical leak in Orange County as officials say crisis is “not over”

Orange County officials said Monday that they were reducing the evacuation zone near the Garden Grove chemical incident by 65 percent, allowing tens of thousands of people to return home after five days of uncertainty. 

Garden Grove Police Department Chief Amir El-Farra announced that the new zone would include homes and businesses for approximately 16,000 residents in an area bounded by Orangewood Avenue to the north, Dale Street to the east, Knott Street to the west and Garden Grove Boulevard to the south.

He urged people to remain mindful of the evacuation orders as crews continued working around the clock to completely contain the incident. 

When asked whether evacuees should be worried about contamination, Orange County Health Care Agency Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said that while the work isn’t over yet, people returning home on Monday “can feel safe.”

“There was no contamination,” she said. “You should feel comfortable going home, even if you’re across the street from that new zone line.”

Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief and Incident Commander Craig Covey said that with new information, officials were able to discuss reducing evacuation zones, which were established on a five-day scale, while monitoring the “worst possible” weather conditions forecasted for the region.

“We built our evacuation footprint on a 360-degree assessment of that, so that if we have a wind change that [is] unexpected, we are covered as well. So, that modeling — both plume and potential fire — is covered in this evacuation zone.”

He said that the smaller evacuation zone is still in place because crews “still have hazards in this incident that we’re trying to tend and fix.”

Covey said that additional repopulation of evacuees would be considered using the same process. 

“I’m very, very optimistic moving forward, that we’re gonna continue with the success, that everything is stabilizing and we’re gonna get them home as soon as possible,” he said.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff also spoke at the conference, urging people to continue heeding evacuation orders. 

“I want to urge folks that are still within the area where there is an evacuation order … Nothing is worth risking, endangering your lives by trying to go back to your home while there is an evacuation order still in effect,” he said.