California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen as a potential future presidential contender for the Democratic Party, urgently asked U.S. President Donald Trump to declare a federal state of emergency. On the 21st, as a storage tank containing about 27,000 liters (7,000 gallons) of toxic substances at a chemical plant near Los Angeles (LA), California's largest city, overheated and neared the brink of explosion, about 50,000 nearby residents left their residence and evacuated.
On the 24th (local time), according to the California State Governments, Gov. Newsom officially requested President Trump to declare a federal state of emergency, a day after declaring a state-level emergency in Orange County. If a federal emergency is approved, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take command on the scene. Federal funds could be used for evacuation and shelter operations and for deploying relief personnel.
In a statement, Gov. Newsom said, "California does not wait for disasters to strike; we act early to protect lives and communities," urging swift decisions. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services also said it is working with state government agencies to fully activate the response system.
The incident unfolded around 3:40 p.m. on the 21st at the GKN Aerospace plant, a U.K.-based aircraft parts manufacturer located in Garden Grove, about 48 kilometers south of LA. Authorities received a report that the internal pressure and temperature of a methyl methacrylate (MMA) storage tank kept at the plant were rising rapidly. The tank was said to contain about 27,000 liters of MMA. MMA is a flammable chemical used to make acrylic plastics and resins. Inhalation can cause shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing, and animal studies have reported congenital defects in which some organs show structural abnormalities.
Fearing a tank explosion, Orange County authorities ordered about 50,000 residents in parts of Garden Grove and nearby Anaheim, Cypress, Buena Park, and Stanton to evacuate. Garden Grove police went door to door urging evacuations, but as of the 23rd, about 15% were refusing to leave, citing reasons such as a shortage of shelters, concerns about property, and disaster skepticism. On behalf of evacuated residents, some attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit against GKN Aerospace, arguing that "the company knew of the known dangers yet failed to protect the community."
Craig Covey, incident response commander for the Orange County Fire Authority, said at a news conference, "In my 32 years in the fire service, I've never seen anything like this," adding, "Only two possibilities remain: the tank fractures and 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of toxic chemicals pour into the parking lot, or thermal runaway occurs and triggers explosions in nearby fuel and chemical tanks as well."
Firefighters currently cannot inject neutralizing agents into the tank due to a valve failure. Instead, they are resisting an explosion by continuously dousing the tank's outer wall with water to lower its temperature. According to foreign media, the internal temperature of the tank has now exceeded about 38 degrees Celsius. Elias Picasso, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC), told the New York Times (NYT), "A steady rise in internal temperature is evidence that the reaction is ongoing," warning of the risk of thermal runaway.
Gov. Newsom is a political rival who has clashed with President Trump over immigration and environmental policies at every turn. In June last year, when the Trump administration converted and deployed 4,000 California National Guard members and 700 Marines into federal forces without the governor's consent, citing the need to quell immigration enforcement protests in LA, Newsom immediately filed a lawsuit in federal court. It was the first time since the 1960s that a president federalized a state's National Guard without the governor's consent. At the time, Newsom wrote on social media (SNS), "Trump is pouring oil on the fire." Trump responded, "Obstructionist Democratic state leaders should be sent to jail."
The two are also potential rivals in the 2028 presidential election. Gov. Newsom has consistently been listed among the most prominent contenders for the Democratic Party's next presidential nomination.