Experts question air tests after massive Los Angeles warehouse fire

The June 17 fire at Lineage’s 500,000-square-foot cold-storage warehouse on Los Palos Street in Boyle Heights burned for about a week, triggered a shelter-in-place order, and prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency. Arkansas-based Onterris called the air “good” after the fire, but critics challenged the testing as too thin to trust.

A temporary monitor at Eastman Avenue Elementary in East Los Angeles recorded 755 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particles in one hour on June 19, a level that surpassed some of the worst pollution measured during the January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires. Officials also detected low levels of hydrogen fluoride on the second day of the fire, and a later analysis found bromine and chlorine near the site, although below short-term health-based thresholds.

Onterris, which Lineage hired to test the air, is the new name for the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, or CTEH, after a rebrand in April 2026. The firm has operated for 29 years and has worked for oil companies, rail carriers and heavy industry. Environmental advocates have long accused it of downplaying public health risks after major disasters, and in East Palestine, Ohio, one environmental investigator called it “the fox guarding the henhouse.”

Los Angeles building inspectors opened an investigation on June 17 into alleged unpermitted construction at the site. The roof also caught fire in August 2024, a blaze Lineage put at about $6 million, and city records show no permits for post-2024 repairs and no roof inspections from 2024 onward.

As smoke, foul odor, eye irritation, nausea and headaches spread through Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles and nearby Southeast Los Angeles neighborhoods, Mayor Karen Bass demanded detailed cleanup plans and real-time disclosure of how much debris was being removed and how air was being monitored. On July 6, community organizations and city leaders met with Lineage to press for cleanup, odor control, fire-water runoff protection, hazardous-material removal and economic recovery.