Local News in Brief : Placentia : Chemical Tank Explodes at a Plastics Plant

A chemical tank at a plastics plant exploded as it was being drained early Wednesday, and its 4-foot-wide steel cap shot high into the air and crashed onto an embankment of the Orange Freeway several hundred feet away.

No one was injured in the incident at 8:35 a.m. at Urethane Plastics Inc., 550 W. Crowther Ave., said Patti Range, a spokeswoman for the county Fire Department.

There was no fire and a county health hazard team found no toxins in the air as a result of the explosion, Range said.

The 1,000-gallon tank, filled with a clear, nontoxic liquid called polybutene, was being heated to help drain it when vapors ignited, Range said. No workers were near the tank, which is located outside the building.