Los Angeles Declares State Of Emergency As Boyle Heights Warehouse Fire Sends Caustic Smoke

Los Angeles declared a state of emergency as a massive Boyle Heights warehouse fire continued burning, sending caustic smoke and haze across wide swaths of the region.

“A shelter-in-place order for parts of Boyle Heights was lifted on Friday, nearly two days after Los Angeles firefighters began battling a”

CBS News

The Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jamie Moore described the blaze that broke out Wednesday as a “very unique fire, a very unique challenge for the Los Angeles Fire Department, for the city of Los Angeles, but also for the County of Los Angeles,” at a morning press conference.

CBS News

Firefighters confronted a stubborn blaze inside a 500,000-square-foot frozen-food warehouse at 1400 S. Los Palos St., described as a building “like a giant cooler” with burning foam insulation, solar panels, and ammonia lines complicating the multi-jurisdictional response.

Mayor Karen Bass said, “I’m issuing an emergency declaration to ensure the city has the resources it needs as this operation continues and to keep the community safe.”

Health officials warned residents—especially those with heart or lung conditions and children—to limit outdoor activity as the smoke continued to affect areas including the San Gabriel Valley and Northeast Los Angeles.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a particle pollution advisory for the Pasadena/South Pasadena/Highland Park Metro Areas as smoke from the Boyle Heights warehouse fire lingered into the weekend.

As of midday Saturday, South Pasadena had no shelter-in-place order and no evacuation, while the AQMD advisory urged residents to limit time outdoors, especially anyone sensitive to poor air.

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

The fire at a Lineage Logistics cold-storage and blast-freezing warehouse in the 1400 block of South Los Palos Street was reported by the Los Angeles Fire Department as breaking out around 2:35 p.m. Wednesday, beginning on the roof in an array of solar panels before working its way into the structure.

South Coast AQMD monitoring near the fire reported particulate levels generally near normal background readings, with brief, seconds-long spikes inside the plume that included slightly elevated bromine and chlorine that the district said are typical in trace amounts during structure fires.

CBS News reported that a shelter-in-place order for parts of Boyle Heights was lifted on Friday at around 11:30 p.m., while a smoke advisory remained in effect as firefighters continued working.

Los Angeles officials said the emergency response focused on preventing a major biohazard and environmental crisis as 85 million pounds of frozen food spoiled inside the facility while smoke continued to spread.

“LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles officials are urging the public to limit outdoor exposure as a complex warehouse fire continues to smolder in Boyle Heights”

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul quoted LAFD Capt. Branden Silverman saying, “all of our air monitoring that has been done by our department, Hazmat, LA County Hazmat, as well as AQMD, has shown that there are no additional toxic chemicals or hazards within that smoke other than normal structure fire smoke.”

The same report said the refrigeration had been turned off, leaving 85 million pounds of meat, fish, and wheat products to spoil, and it described the ammonia threat as mitigated after firefighters shut down valves and pumped the ammonia off-site.

Two 24-hour respite shelters were opened, including Pecan Rec Center at 145 S. Pecan St. and City Terrace Park at 1126 N. Hazard Ave., as Mayor Karen Bass urged residents to stay inside and wear a mask if they needed to go outside.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the American Red Cross opened two smoke respite shelters at City Terrace Park at 1126 N. Hazard Ave. and Pecan Recreation Center at 145 S. Pecan St., and Bass said she had reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom for additional support.