FEMA planning up to 14-day hotel stays for residents evacuated from Garden Grove chemical threat
Preparations are being made for what a Federal Emergency Management Agency document described as a “14-day mass care event” in response to the crisis at the Garden Grove aerospace company, where a malfunctioning chemical storage tank threatens to leak or explode.
It was unclear on Sunday, May 24, whether officials believe residents and businesses will have to be evacuated for two weeks or whether the preparations were a worst-case scenario. Several messages were left with the Orange County Fire Authority seeking comment.
Some 50,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate.
“It is not temporary housing,” according to the rules in a TSA document.
Expenses will be covered for those staying in participating hotels. Households of four or fewer will be authorized one room; five people or more will get two rooms.
A conference call among FEMA, federal and state agencies must take place to determine whether the TSA will be implemented.
People whose housing is damaged or who are displaced are eligible. They must prove eligibility.
The FEMA document also said that one hospital and 11 nursing homes are in the evacuation zone. The hospital patients and employees were relocated to the Department of State Hospitals-Metropolitan in Norwalk — a psychiatric care facility.
Elizabeth Pichardo hangs out in her car outside the Freedom Hall shelter at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Sunday, May 24, 2026. The family spent almost $600 on a hotel the past three nights and have decided to sleep in their car tonight. A pressurized tank filled with methyl methacrylate started leaking at GKN Aerospace started leaking on Thursday in Garden Grove causing large scale evacuations in Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Cypress and Anaheim. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Monk Lincoln Long greets an evacuee as he hands out food he and his students brought to the Freedom Hall shelter at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Sunday, May 24, 2026. A pressurized tank filled with methyl methacrylate started leaking at GKN Aerospace started leaking on Thursday in Garden Grove causing large scale evacuations in Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Cypress and Anaheim. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A boy who only wanted to be identified as E.J. helps his family deliver food they donated to the Freedom Hall shelter at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Sunday, May 24, 2026. A pressurized tank filled with methyl methacrylate started leaking at GKN Aerospace started leaking on Thursday in Garden Grove causing large scale evacuations in Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Cypress and Anaheim. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
People walk with their belongings in the evacuation area in Garden Grove, on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (Photo by OnScene.TV)
Jesus and Viridiana Arcos, left, and center, and their children Diana, back to camera, Ruby, 4, and Anthony, who turns 10 today, enjoy a meal at Golden West College in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2026. The World Central Kitchen’s Relief Team is providing meals and emergency support to people who were evacuated because of the potential chemical leak or explosion at the GKN Aerospace facility in nearby Garden Grove. The family spent the first two nights at a hotel in Apple Valley because it was less money than $270 a night area hotels, Jesus Arcos said, and because all the shelters were full. They are now staying at the Red Cross shelter at the college.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
An aerial view of a man wearing protective hazmat suit working in an empty street near an overheated 34,000-gallon tank at GKN Aerospace on May 23, 2026 in Garden Grove, California. A malfunctioning tank at an aerospace plant has the potential of a chemical leak or explosion. An incident at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturer of components for commercial and military aircraft, triggered the facility’s automatic sprinkler system. Investigators are expected to examine the cause of the hazardous leak once the site has been fully stabilized. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
The Freedom Hall shelter at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Sunday, May 24, 2026. A pressurized tank filled with methyl methacrylate started leaking at GKN Aerospace started leaking on Thursday in Garden Grove causing large scale evacuations in Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Cypress and Anaheim. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Quoc Ngo feeds his 4-year-old daughter, Annie, at Golden West College’s Red Cross Shelter in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2026. Meals are being provided by World Central Kitchen for families like Ngo’s who have been displaced by the potential chemical disaster at the GKN Aerospace facility in nearby Garden Grove. The family could not find an available shelter the first night of the evacuation and had to sleep in their car. They were finally able to secure spots at the college yesterday evening, along with their Stanton neighbors.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Fresh meals are provided by World Central Kitchen to people at Golden West College on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Huntington Beach, who were displaced because of the potential chemical disaster at the GKN Aerospace facility in nearby Garden Grove. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Four-year-old Ruby Arcos slurps a cup of noodles at Golden West College in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2026. The Red Cross and World Central Kitchen, provided services for those displaced by the potential chemical disaster at the GKN Aerospace facility in nearby Garden Grove. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Elizabeth Pichardo hangs out in her car outside the Freedom Hall shelter at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Sunday, May 24, 2026. The family spent almost $600 on a hotel the past three nights and have decided to sleep in their car tonight. A pressurized tank filled with methyl methacrylate started leaking at GKN Aerospace started leaking on Thursday in Garden Grove causing large scale evacuations in Stanton and parts of Garden Grove, Cypress and Anaheim. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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