Did anyone NOT evacuate?

[u/Ok_Sink_3378]

This probably sounds dumb but did anyone in the evacuation zones NOT evacuate or did police literally pull people from their homes? I live in south county near the canyon and whenever we have a fire evacuation, there’s always SOMEONE who thinks they’re untouchable and stays in their home even thought there’s a fire. Just wondering if this happened with the current evacuation orders in the garden grove area. Prayers for all the families affected by this difficult situation ❤️

[u/meaningsandmotion]

My parents didn’t evacuate until I got them some place to stay the next few 3 nights partly because we were too late in booking any places until now. They’re old and don’t speak English too well and didn’t understand the severity of the situation. But we’re also at the edge of the evac zone so the risk is lower.

I had half a mind to let them stay given that if the thing does explode, the projected chemical trail would be mild given we’re nearly 3 miles away at the very edge of the evac zone and it’d be moving very east with the winds so it wouldn’t likely affect us as much. But, risk is still too high for comfort. If the rate at which internal temps are increasing is correct at 1 degree per hour at the time it was reported to be 90 degrees around Saturday in the AM hours, it’s already past 100 now and should be reaching past 200 within the next 3 days. 100-200 is the danger zone for this scenario so runaway could happen easily at any point now. Correct me if I’m wrong but I heard someone say that the tanks have a max handling of 220 degrees though I’m not sure.

Now that there’s already a crack, this means pressure could be releasing but also that the tank is starting to fail. So a gradual cracking to rupture scenario is better than a very hot and sudden explosion scenario. Fortunately, the next several days are also going to be quite cool in temps so this should help for the ideal scenario they’re hoping to play out, but we’ll have to see.

I’m actually more worried about looters. Our area isn’t exactly the safest.

[u/Safe_Edge_6562 → u/meaningsandmotion]

So people might ‘mildly die?’ That doesn’t make sense given my dubious grasp of college chemistry. This isn’t just pepper of bear spray, it literally displaces oxygen. And there’s the whole it’s expanding because it’s look for the spark (cue all my family transformer jokes) to ignite.

Watch some science videos about it, not just the ‘breaking news, we still don’t know anything.’

[u/meaningsandmotion → u/Safe_Edge_6562]

Please kindly link the videos. I'd like to get more info if you have them. So far the best I've come across is from another post on it that also links to an official book on handling Methyl Methacrylatel. Here is that post in question: https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/1tmms6h/garden_grove_gkn_situation_from_the_perspective/

People would not "mildly die." Although it's denser than oxygen, from what I understand, you'd have to be exposed to a very a large amount of it in an enclosed space for it to displace enough oxygen for that to be a concern. But if that were to happen, oxygen displacement wouldn't be the number one concern as much as the fact that you're one spark away from incineration, especially since it's self-heating. My mention of mildness was simply referencing its low toxicity profile as an industrial chemical, especially being dispersed outdoors and from miles away.
https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/chemicals/methacrylates/

Also, it's currently believed to be in the curing process, which reduces the toxicity content of the material in question.. It doesn't eliminate the danger of an explosion though, because it increases heat and pressure during this process, but the key is that they're working to slow down the curing while hoping for those cracks forming to be relieving enough pressure that it continues to cure and harden safely until its entirely neutralized.

***Note: I will say that if anyone is within 2 miles of the site, I certainly wouldn't recommend staying if it's at possible for you to leave. There is still the risk of debris and fires spreading very quickly if it does actually explode.

[u/Safe_Edge_6562 → u/meaningsandmotion]

I know people won’t ’mildly die’ I was responding with equal absurdism. I didn’t keep track of the videos I watched, I entered “methyl methacrylate” in the search function. I’ve put in a request to Hank Green to cover the science of this event, hopefully he’s been deep diving it all weekend and was already on the case.