Smoke advisory lingers as Boyle Heights warehouse fire burns on

Four days after a Boyle Heights cold-storage warehouse caught fire, smoke was still drifting miles beyond the block while public-health warnings remained in place. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the blaze at 1400 S Los Palos St., which started shortly before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, was a very complex fire with numerous hazards, including ammonia refrigerant, dense foam insulation and a vast load of spoiled frozen food.

Officials said the structure, a large single-story commercial building with corrugated steel exterior walls, contained about 85 million pounds of frozen food. As the fire burned, crews had to move between offensive and defensive tactics, while helicopters dropped water on the building and the incident shifted from hazardous materials concerns to the biohazard risks posed by food that had begun to spoil.

The shelter-in-place order that covered the area north of Holabird Avenue, south of the 5 Freeway, east of Soto Street and west of South Indiana Street was lifted by Saturday, but the air quality response continued. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a particle pollution advisory on June 17 and extended it the next day, reflecting the continuing smoke and particulate risk from the warehouse fire. By Saturday morning, fire officials said the smell of smoke had reached most of the city.

That left residents with a different question than the one posed on Wednesday: not whether the block was still dangerous, but how much smoke had already spread through surrounding neighborhoods. Los Angeles Fire Department officials urged people sensitive to smoke to limit exposure, including those attending outdoor World Cup-related events, as smoke from the blaze continued to travel far beyond Boyle Heights.

No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remained unknown. The city opened two shelter locations for anyone affected, at Pecan Rec Center, 145 S. Pecan St., and City Terrace Park, 1126 N. Hazard Ave. The prolonged response exposed the strain of managing a fire that combined industrial hazards, air-quality concerns and neighborhood protection in one of Los Angeles’s most densely watched urban fire incidents.