‘Like a dead body’: after warehouse fire, LA residents say air thick with smell of rotting food
Something is rotten in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights.
For a week, thick black smoke filled the air while a massive warehouse burned near downtown Los Angeles, prompting a state of emergency and evacuation orders in the immediate area as air quality worsened. Firefighters finally extinguished the flames on Wednesday, but not before half the warehouse’s 85m lbs of frozen food were lost in the fire – leaving roughly 40m lbs of food to rot.
Residents, who say they have experienced health issues since the fire began last week, now say their new concern is the pervasive, putrid smell of rotting meat, vegetables and frozen products.
Kelvin Vasquez lives one block from the 500,000 sq ft insulated warehouse, so close he said he watched the fire burn from inside his home. Since the start of the emergency on 17 June, he has suffered from a sore throat, headache, persistent dizziness and nausea.
Vasquez’s health issues aren’t what worries him now, he said. It’s what will become of the tens of millions of pounds of food next door that has sat unrefrigerated, shrouded in smoke, for over a week. And the smell is unbearable.
“It’s pretty much something like a dead body,” Vasquez said. “Like a dead animal.”
In the aftermath of the fire, the millions of gallons of water used to fight the flames had created a steady stream polluted with debris, burnt insulation foam and bags of once-frozen food items.
With the fire extinguished, cleanup operations are now the responsibility of the private property’s owner and Lineage Logistics, a cold-storage company that leases the space. Lineage said in a statement on Friday it had hired a cleanup firm to handle operations.
Neither Lineage nor its cleanup firm responded to inquiries about how long the cleanup would take in time for publication. Los Angeles health services officials told the Guardian that the city was unaware of any plans for how or where the spoiled food would be disposed of.
Two companies lease space at the massive warehouse: Lineage, whose operations are inside, and Altus Power, a clean energy company that operates more than 300,000 sq ft of solar panels on the warehouse rooftop.
Altus Power previously sold the electricity produced by the solar panels at this Boyle Heights location to the Los Angeles department of water and power through a “feed-in-tariff” program. But the city stopped purchasing energy from the property in 2024, a spokesperson for LADWP told the Guardian.
Lineage has blamed Altus Power for the fire in company statements posted to its website, saying it believed the fire began while workers conducted tests on the rooftop solar array the day the fire broke out.
Altus Power said in a statement that a cause of the fire “has yet to be determined”.
It isn’t the first time that either one of Lineage’s warehouses or Altus Power’s solar panels have gone up in flames.
Two years ago, solar panels at the same Boyle Heights warehouse caught on fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames before they spread, but a cause was never determined.
Vasquez, who has lived next to the warehouse for two decades, said he felt the property was a “ticking bomb” after that 2024 fire.
Earlier that same year, a Lineage warehouse in Finley, Washington also caught on fire. That blaze burned for 60 days and local residents, like in Los Angeles, also complained of significant health issues related to the incident. Lineage is still engaged in civil lawsuits related to the Finley fire.
In a Thursday press conference, Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, vowed to “hold those responsible fully accountable”.
She also said she plans to sign an executive order mobilizing more resources to help with cleaning up the frozen food.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
A warehouse fire near downtown Los Angeles burned for approximately one week, destroying about 40 million pounds of frozen food inventory. The remaining 40 million pounds of the original 85 million-pound stock now sits unrefrigerated in the damaged facility. Residents within one block report health symptoms including sore throat and headaches, and are experiencing strong odors from decomposing food. The warehouse owner and Lineage Logistics, which leases the space, are responsible for cleanup operations. Lineage has engaged a cleanup contractor, though specific timelines and disposal plans remain unclear to city health officials. Lineage attributes the fire to solar panel maintenance conducted by Altus Power, which operates rooftop panels at the facility; Altus Power states the cause is undetermined. A fire occurred at the same location two years prior. Los Angeles officials have committed to accountability and resource mobilization for cleanup efforts.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
Something is rotten in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights.
For a week, thick black smoke filled the air while a massive warehouse burned near downtown Los Angeles, prompting a state of emergency and evacuation orders in the immediate area as air quality worsened. Firefighters finally extinguished the flames on Wednesday, but not before half the warehouse’s 85m lbs of frozen food were lost in the fire – leaving roughly 40m lbs of food to rot.
Residents, who say they have experienced health issues since the fire began last week, now say their new concern is the pervasive, putrid smell of rotting meat, vegetables and frozen products.
Kelvin Vasquez lives one block from the 500,000 sq ft insulated warehouse, so close he said he watched the fire burn from inside his home. Since the start of the emergency on 17 June, he has suffered from a sore throat, headache, persistent dizziness and nausea.
Vasquez’s health issues aren’t what worries him now, he said. It’s what will become of the tens of millions of pounds of food next door that has sat unrefrigerated, shrouded in smoke, for over a week. And the smell is unbearable.
“It’s pretty much something like a dead body,” Vasquez said. “Like a dead animal.”
In the aftermath of the fire, the millions of gallons of water used to fight the flames had created a steady stream polluted with debris, burnt insulation foam and bags of once-frozen food items.
With the fire extinguished, cleanup operations are now the responsibility of the private property’s owner and Lineage Logistics, a cold-storage company that leases the space. Lineage said in a statement on Friday it had hired a cleanup firm to handle operations.
Neither Lineage nor its cleanup firm responded to inquiries about how long the cleanup would take in time for publication. Los Angeles health services officials told the Guardian that the city was unaware of any plans for how or where the spoiled food would be disposed of.
Two companies lease space at the massive warehouse: Lineage, whose operations are inside, and Altus Power, a clean energy company that operates more than 300,000 sq ft of solar panels on the warehouse rooftop.
Altus Power previously sold the electricity produced by the solar panels at this Boyle Heights location to the Los Angeles department of water and power through a “feed-in-tariff” program. But the city stopped purchasing energy from the property in 2024, a spokesperson for LADWP told the Guardian.
Lineage has blamed Altus Power for the fire in company statements posted to its website, saying it believed the fire began while workers conducted tests on the rooftop solar array the day the fire broke out.
Altus Power said in a statement that a cause of the fire “has yet to be determined”.
It isn’t the first time that either one of Lineage’s warehouses or Altus Power’s solar panels have gone up in flames.
Two years ago, solar panels at the same Boyle Heights warehouse caught on fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames before they spread, but a cause was never determined.
Vasquez, who has lived next to the warehouse for two decades, said he felt the property was a “ticking bomb” after that 2024 fire.
Earlier that same year, a Lineage warehouse in Finley, Washington also caught on fire. That blaze burned for 60 days and local residents, like in Los Angeles, also complained of significant health issues related to the incident. Lineage is still engaged in civil lawsuits related to the Finley fire.
In a Thursday press conference, Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, vowed to “hold those responsible fully accountable”.
She also said she plans to sign an executive order mobilizing more resources to help with cleaning up the frozen food.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
A warehouse fire in Boyle Heights burned for approximately one week before firefighters extinguished it on Wednesday The warehouse originally contained 85 million pounds of frozen food; approximately 40 million pounds were destroyed and 40 million remain The fire prompted emergency declarations and evacuation orders in the immediate area Residents report experiencing sore throats, headaches, dizziness, and nausea since the fire began on June 17 Residents describe the smell of rotting food as resembling a dead body Millions of gallons of water used to fight the fire created polluted runoff containing debris and food items Cleanup operations are the responsibility of the warehouse owner and Lineage Logistics, which hired a cleanup firm Los Angeles health officials stated they are unaware of specific plans for food disposal Lineage Logistics stated it believes Altus Power's solar panel testing caused the fire Altus Power stated the fire's cause has not been determined A fire involving solar panels at the same warehouse occurred two years prior with an undetermined cause Lineage is engaged in civil lawsuits related to a 2024 warehouse fire in Washington that burned for 60 days Mayor Karen Bass vowed to hold responsible parties accountable and plans an executive order for cleanup resources
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
- A massive warehouse fire in LA's Boyle Heights burned for a week, destroying roughly half of 85 million pounds of frozen food stored inside
- Approximately 40 million pounds of food remain unrefrigerated and rotting, creating a severe odor problem for nearby residents who report health issues
- Cleanup responsibility falls to the warehouse owner and Lineage Logistics; LA health officials say they're unaware of disposal plans for the spoiled food
- Lineage blames solar panel operator Altus Power for the fire; Altus Power says the cause remains undetermined
- This is the second fire at the same warehouse in two years, and Lineage faces ongoing civil lawsuits from a 2024 warehouse fire in Washington