Six-day Boyle Heights warehouse fire keeps pollution advisory in place

Boyle Heights residents were still breathing under a pollution advisory as the six-day smolder at a Lineage cold-food storage warehouse kept sending smoke across the Eastside and beyond. Officials said air monitoring had not detected anything beyond what is typical in fire smoke, but the gap between those assurances and what neighbors say they are experiencing has become the defining public-health concern.

The fire broke out around 2:30 to 2:35 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at the nearly 500,000-square-foot facility at 1400 S. Los Palos St., just east of downtown Los Angeles. Flames spread across rooftop solar panels and reached an ammonia line that began off-gassing, prompting shelter-in-place orders and the evacuation of about 70 people on two streets, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The shelter zone initially covered areas south of the 101 and Interstate 5, east of Soto Street, north of Washington Boulevard and west of Indiana Street, before being lifted and then reinstated as crews ventilated smoke from the building.

By Monday, June 22, the fire was still smoldering and flaring up. The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended particle-pollution advisories because smoke from the blaze was affecting Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles, Montebello and parts of the San Gabriel Valley. Its guidance warned that smoke from smoldering material can stay low to the ground and continue to affect nearby neighborhoods, and told residents to stay indoors, close windows and doors, limit exertion and use an air purifier if available.

The incident has revived concerns about the risks posed by industrial facilities in densely populated neighborhoods. The same building caught fire in August 2024, when Los Angeles Fire Department crews extinguished a solar-panel roof blaze on the 479,152-square-foot structure, built in 2018, in 48 minutes with no injuries reported. This year’s fire again involved the roof and solar panels, and by Monday firefighters were tearing down sections of the exterior wall to reach concealed fire inside the warehouse. Authorities said the cause remained under investigation.

The event quickly grew into a broader emergency response. Mayor Karen Bass issued a Declaration of Local Emergency on June 21, saying the city needed additional resources to keep fighting the fire and manage recovery. Gov. Gavin Newsom also declared a state of emergency, while the California Community Foundation activated its impact fund for air purifiers, food distribution and direct aid. Los Angeles Unified School District relocated some summer programs because of air-quality concerns, underscoring how a single industrial fire spilled into breathing, schooling and daily life across Boyle Heights and neighboring communities.