The tragic chemical explosion on Tuesday that left at least two dead and others missing at a Washington state industrial plant was preceded by a dramatic chemical leak at a California facility that threatened an explosion. Now largely resolved, that earlier situation offers a look at how communicators dealt with a crisis whose details constantly changed.

Much of this account is based on coverage by KTLA, whose reporting has been extensive and excellent. On Thursday, May 21, a toxic chemical leak was reported at the facility in Garden Grove, California, about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County. The plant is run by GKN Aerospace, owned by Birmingham, England-based Melrose Industries PLC. The tank was leaking highly flammable methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastics.

The leak was occurring due to the chemical in the tank overheating because of a frozen valve, which was a major problem. About 50,000 residents of Garden Grove and five surrounding cities were evacuated, forced to relocate to centers at schools and a county fairground and Red Cross shelters.

‘Changing Conditions’

Fire crews sprayed the tank with water, which seemed to help. That Thursday night, the evacuation order was temporarily lifted. But the next morning it was reissued “due to changing conditions,” according to county authorities. For the first time, they began to talk of the possibility of the tank exploding.

Much of the communications duties fell to the Orange County Fire Authority, which overall seems to have done a great job of keeping the public informed through press conferences and its X account that included videotaped “critical incident updates.” At a presser on Friday, OCFA Chief Craig Covey pulled back on the previous day’s hopeful statements and said crews had been unable to stabilize the tank.

Covey said the chemical would either leak into the parking lot or the tank would explode. Given the rosier outcome we now know, his communications may have been overly dire. “This is not precautionary,” he said, “this thing is going to fail, and we don’t know when.”

Overnight Progress

By Saturday morning, the county officials said crews had made progress overnight in stabilizing the temperature, but still maintained that either a massive leak or explosion would occur. Covey released a five-minute critical-incident update that explained that the improved temperature readings may not have been accurate. He also outlined plans for either a leak or explosion.

All this back and forth on the facts is almost unavoidable in a major crisis. It reminds us of the changing communications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The communications changed as the understanding changed. It would have been good for the communicators to emphasize that the situation would be ever evolving.

On Sunday, in a new update, this time by Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern, OCFA said firefighters discovered a crack in the tank, which may have been helpful as it was relieving some of the pressure. McGovern said the discovery could change the crisis-response strategy for the better.

Evacuation Lifted

Indeed, by Monday morning, the county firefighters were able to report that the temperature had cooled and the threat of an explosion — or at least a massive one — had ended. That night officials reduced the evacuation zone to include about 16,000 people, according to the BBC. And then on Tuesday night any explosion or leak threat was found to no longer exist and the evacuation order was completely lifted.

The first class-action lawsuit on behalf of the residents against GKN Aerospace, which has done some communicating and apologizing, was already filed by Saturday evening. The suit accuses the company of failing to adequately protect the surrounding community. The county district attorney has also launched a criminal investigation.

Photo Credit: Steve Cukrov – stock.adobe.com

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