Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Cecilia Nowell and agencies

FBI searches southern California facility where chemical incident spurred evacuation

Water is sprayed on a large industrial tank
An overheated chemical tank is sprayed with water to cool it in Garden Grove, California, on 22 May 2026. Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP

The FBI is searching a southern California aerospace facility where an overheated chemical tank forced 50,000 residents to evacuate last month, after federal authorities served a search warrant there on Wednesday.

Signed by a federal judge last week, the warrant approved the seizure of records related to the “storage, use or disposal” of methyl methacrylate, the chemical stored inside the tank that authorities feared could explode.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.