Federal authorities executing search warrant as part of probe into California chemical tank incident

(ORANGE COUNTY, Calif.) -- Federal authorities are executing a search warrant at a Southern California facility where fears of a catastrophic explosion over a failing chemical tank led to tens of thousands of people being ordered to evacuate last month, according to federal officials.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency are on site Wednesday executing a federal search warrant signed by a judge as part of a federal investigation into the tank incident at GKN Aerospace that prompted a state of emergency in Orange County.

"Obviously, we want to know exactly what happened and determine whether any federal laws were violated, and that's the purpose of the search today," Essayli told reporters at the scene of the facility in Garden Grove, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.

Essayli said chemists and scientists from the EPA have been brought from across the country to collect evidence as part of the probe, including taking soil samples.

"We're here to get to the bottom of exactly what happened," he said, declining to discuss the case further due to the active investigation.

Federal authorities are expected to be at the site for most of Wednesday, Essayli said.

The situation began unfolding on May 21 at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company that builds engines and landing gear for both commercial and military aircraft. A chemical tank filled with toxic chemicals was showing signs of overheating, which could cause it to overheat or spill, officials said.

The 34,000-gallon tank contained methyl methacrylate, an industrial chemical used in plastic manufacturing, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. The chemical is primarily a respiratory irritant. Short-term exposure can cause skin and eye irritation, as well as breathing problems, according to the EPA.

During the height of the crisis, when officials thought they faced only two options -- an explosion or chemical spill -- about 50,000 people in the city of Garden Grove and several surrounding communities were under evacuation orders.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency in Orange County in response to the incident.

Following a dayslong effort to cool the contents of the tank and stabilize it, officials determined there was no longer a threat of an explosion, fire or chemical leak and no risk to the public, and all remaining evacuation orders were lifted on May 26.

During a Garden Grove City Council meeting on Tuesday, GKN Aerospace Senior Vice President Steve Carlin apologized for the disruptive and "unsettling" incident.

"On behalf of GKN and the Garden Grove plant, I want to say I'm sorry that this event, this incident occurred," he said.

He said the company is in the early stages of investigating and reviewing what happened on May 21, "so it'd be too early for us to draw any conclusions one way or the other."

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer launched a criminal probe into the incident last month, ordering the company not to destroy or manipulate any records, his office said.

The probe seeks to determine how a major military and commercial aircraft gear manufacturer could have allowed such a toxic failure to occur, according to the district attorney.

GKN previously declined to comment specifically on the district attorney's investigation.

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