The Lineage cold storage facility in Boyle Heights. (Julia Wick/L.A. Material)
ONCE THE FIRE WAS OUT AT THE LINEAGE WAREHOUSE in Boyle Heights and the noxious smoke stopped blanketing the surrounding neighborhoods, the scope of the next environmental disaster became clear.
There were still 85 million pounds of rotting food left at the site — some of it mixed into a slurry of flame retardant, burned insulation and sooty firehose runoff — baking in the hot summer sun. It’s a nasty mess that includes shellfish, various kinds of meat, boxes and other packaging.
Lineage, the company that operated the massive cold storage facility, is responsible for getting rid of all that festering food, though they are working with a long list of subcontractors to do it.
Nearly a month after the fire, the lengthy cleanup process is still in its early stages, and neighbors remain barraged by nauseating odors and an invasion of rats and bugs. A tracker on Lineage’s website shows how many trucks of waste have been removed, so angry residents can see the progress for themselves.
But as the number ticked upward, I remained obsessed by another question: Where, exactly, were all these trash-laden trucks going?
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