California's governor has declared a state of emergency tonight as a blaze at a chemical storage facility in the San Joaquin Valley threatens to trigger a catastrophic leak of toxic industrial solvents. The fire, which broke out in the early hours of this morning at a sprawling industrial complex near Bakersfield, has already sent a column of black smoke visible for miles. First responders are battling the flames but sources confirm that the blaze is rapidly approaching a storage tank containing large quantities of methylene chloride, a known carcinogen and environmental hazard.
A local emergency management official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me: "If that tank goes, we're looking at a public health disaster. The winds could carry this stuff for hundreds of miles."
The state's emergency proclamation unlocks millions in disaster relief funds and allows the deployment of the National Guard. But critics are already asking why this facility was operating without a detailed emergency plan. Documents I have uncovered show that the company behind the site, a shadowy subsidiary of a multinational chemical conglomerate, has a long history of safety violations.
This is not an accident waiting to happen. This is an accident that was actively prepared. The governor's office insists they are doing everything possible, but for the families living in the shadow of this plant, the smell of burning chemicals is a grim reminder that when corporate profits come first, public safety comes last.
