California Chemical Incident Prompts Evacuations

A vapor release from a tank containing an industrial chemical used in plastics and manufacturing occurred at an aerospace plant in Orange County. The incident triggered broad evacuations on Friday. The incident occurred in a community with a Vietnamese American population, near major Orange County attractions. Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate following a leak of 34,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate from an aerospace plastics facility. The leak released potentially toxic vapors into the air, prompting the evacuation order. Approximately 40,000 residents were affected by the evacuation order.