Haze of Fear And Confusion Grips Residents As Warehouse Fire Continues To Burn

Diana Rodríguez, who lives a few blocks from the Boyle Heights cold storage warehouse that burst into flames Wednesday, said she has been in a state of fear since the black smoke started billowing from the facility five days ago. 

Officials declared a “Shelter in Place” order Wednesday afternoon and have continued to send out smoke advisory alerts. The Los Angeles Fire Department warned Sunday that residents should continue to expect smoke to increase at certain points as firefighters try to get a handle on the stubborn blaze. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore suggested the fire could be out by week’s end. 

“This situation is out of control,” said Rodríguez, who is six months pregnant and also has a 10-year-old son at home. Warned to keep her air conditioning off to avoid drawing smoke into the house, the school cafeteria worker said she has been hunkered down at home in the heat, wondering when officials will get the fire under control, why it is taking so long to do so, and why it feels like the official response is so confusing. 

Those complaints were echoed by a number of residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles Sunday, as they suffered through their fifth day of bad air alerts, with little idea of when the fire might be put out and what was in the smoke that was sometimes so dense it blotted out the sun.  

“This has been an exhausting and scary few days,” agreed Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights. In an Instagram Live post filmed standing in front of the smoldering warehouse Sunday, she said she knew many of her constituents were “worried about their kids, seniors, people with asthma” and were “trying to understand what happens next.” 

The fire began on the roof of a 500,000-square-foot warehouse on Los Palos Street that holds up to 85 million pounds of frozen food. Inside the warehouse, which is operated by Lineage, one of the world’s largest cold storage companies, the frozen foods were insulated with massive amounts of dense foam; ammonia is used as a refrigerant. In the first hours of the fire, there was a suspected ammonia leak and air quality officials warned that the smoke could be toxic. More recently fire officials have said air quality readings suggest that the smoke is no more dangerous than that of a typical fire — but noted that it still poses risks for anyone with asthma or other vulnerabilities. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has a particulate pollution advisory in place through at least midday Monday, spanning from central Los Angeles east all the way to Riverside. 

Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom both issued emergency declarations on Saturday afternoon, in an effort to channel more resources toward the fire. Meanwhile, some experts have warned that the facility could become a biohazard risk if food starts to spoil and burn. They also worried about lithium ion batteries inside the facility, but officials said Sunday that many batteries had been located and removed, “significantly reducing hazards to both firefighters and the surrounding community.”

The fire has at times sent smoke wafting across the Los Angeles basin, prompting anxiety and dismay in a city still traumatized by the massive firestorm last year. Residents as far west as Calabasas have questioned what precautions they should be taking when they smell smoke dozens of miles from the blaze. Confusion has reigned across the region, as Angelenos tried to make sense of AQI data on sites like PurpleAir and wondered what guidance they should be following. But the most intense — and potentially hazardous — impacts have fallen on the largely working-class neighborhoods directly surrounding the warehouse in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. 

Adding to the challenge for some residents, neighborhoods just over the Los Angeles city line in unincorporated East Los Angeles have been heavily impacted with smoke – but some residents there say they have not been getting as much help or information. 

Christopher Alvarado, 29, lives in East Los Angeles with his wife and 3-month-old son. He said his baby’s left eye appears irritated from the smoke, but that when he tried to get a free air purifier from the city of Los Angeles, he was told that he was ineligible because he doesn’t live within the city limits. When he called his local county supervisor, Hilda Solis, he said no one from her office picked up or returned messages. 

“We felt lesser-than. Unrepresented,” Alvarado said. 

East Los Angeles is the largest unincorporated area in L.A. County, meaning it has no mayor or city council, and there have long been fights about whether the area needs more local representation. 

Wendy Carrillo, who represented East L.A. in the Assembly until 2024 and advocated for cityhood, posted on X decrying what she characterized as “clear environmental racism.”  Carrillo  called Solis’ response was “shameful”:  “Where is the emergency response? Where is the coordinated effort to distribute air purifiers, provide health guidance, and assist vulnerable residents who need to evacuate?” 

In a statement, Solis called that criticism inaccurate and said her office was “working around the clock to support residents.”  She said her staff had distributed masks, provided health and safety information, and ordered emergency responders to open a smoke respite shelter in City Terrace the night the fire began. On Saturday and Sunday, she said, her staff began delivering air purifiers to residents suffering from respiratory illnesses or other health conditions that could make them especially vulnerable to smoke. 

“While there may be times when phones are not answered immediately because staff are actively responding on the ground, every voicemail is being reviewed,” her statement said. She added: “Residents are understandably anxious about the impacts of this fire on their health, their families, and the air they are breathing.”

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