What really happened with that warehouse fire in Washington

Good morning. It’s Friday, June 26. You can expect a cloudy morning to become a decent beach afternoon, with highs in the 70s just about everywhere in the county.

As smoke from the Lineage warehouse fire choked neighborhoods this week, people around Los Angeles — almost certainly for the first time ever — were talking about Finley, Washington.

Finley, population 6,152, sits at a bend in the Columbia River in eastern Washington near the Oregon border. Two years ago, the town also experienced a warehouse fire, also at a Lineage cold storage facility. Multiple outlets referred to the Finley Lineage fire in their coverage of the Boyle Heights Lineage fire — in particular the sobering detail that the Finley fire took about two months to put out.

As the fire in Boyle Heights approached knockdown earlier this week, LAFD firefighters celebrated how much faster they’d taken care of business than their Finley counterparts. LAFD Captain Jacob Raabe told the L.A. Times that his department had “taken a fire that in other jurisdictions has taken over 60 days to put out, we’re on day eight now and we’re close to final extinguishment.”

But there were some major differences between the Finley fire and the Boyle Heights fire — mainly because of the differences between Finley and Boyle Heights.

Jenna Roberts, a spokesperson for Benton County Fire District #1, the local fire department, said that the Lineage fire was “one of the most challenging fires (the department) has encountered.” Because of the building’s rural location, there were no fire hydrants in the area, so “all water for firefighting had to be delivered by truck or pumped from nearby irrigation canals,” she said.

Rob Rodger monitored the fire in real time as Executive Director of the Benton Clear Air Agency, which serves Benton County and is the smallest such department in the state: “There’s only five of us here.” He said that because of powerlines over the facility, water drops via helicopter weren’t an option either. With the building too dangerous to enter, firefighters had to resort exclusively to hoses from outside. “They’re just squirting it from as far away as they could,” he said.

One thing Finley had in common with Los Angeles: Residents did report health impacts from their fire.

The local health department sent a survey to all 347 residential households within a one-mile radius of the Lineage facility, and “almost all” respondents reported that they were experiencing some form of symptoms. In town meetings during and after the fire, residents told local officials that their animals were getting sick, too.

“It was horrible,” said Rodger, who attended the meetings. “Hearing from people about their horses getting sick, their cats, their dogs.”

Some Finley residents have filed suit against Lineage, the county, and other defendants — their lawyer, William Sykes, told the L.A. Times this week that some plaintiffs are still experiencing respiratory issues, and noted that some neighbors and animals have died in the two years since the fire. In 2025, ten months after the fire, Sykes told Northwest Public Broadcasting that some residents who had been displaced by the fire still had not moved back into their homes. 

L.A. is still waiting for more data on whether the smoke from the Boyle Heights fire contained any uniquely hazardous toxins. But researchers from Washington’s Department of Ecology collected air quality data around the Lineage facility for several weeks while the fire was burning, monitoring for hazards like ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and volatile organic compounds — and didn’t find any. Tests of runoff from the water used to fight the fire, however, did show “significant levels” of heavy metals and synthetic chemicals known as PFAS, both of which can accumulate in the body and cause a wide range of health problems.

According to the Benton County Fire District #1, nobody from LAFD reached out to pick their brain on how to put out a fire at a Lineage warehouse. But local officials had heard about the situation in Boyle Heights, and expressed sympathy for L.A. residents who were affected.

“It’s just a really crappy situation,” said Rodger. “I feel bad for you.”

If you weren’t able to attend L.A. Material’s Wednesday night webinar, where three experts on air quality broke down how to monitor pollution and protect yourself after the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, you can watch the whole thing and read our five takeaways at the link below.

GONE LAKE: The Colorado River, a lifeline to California and six other Western states, is drying up at its source. The L.A. Times' Ian James reports on the imminent fallout: drastic cutbacks in water use and massive disruptions to farming and cattle ranching.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S THEME: While exhibits at the Getty, LACMA, and the Fisher Museum of Art showcase the work of legendary L.A. architect Paul R. Williams, Vanity Fair unpacks his legacy in the city through the eyes of fans like Rick Caruso and Denzel and Pauletta Washington.

JON QUIXOTE: The jury deciding whether to convict Jonathan Rinderknecht of starting the Palisades fire said Thursday afternoon that they are deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict on the three arson-related charges. U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang sent jurors home for the day and asked them to return Friday morning to continue deliberating. If the deadlock persists, the judge would declare a mistrial, and federal prosecutors could hold a new trial — with a new jury — on the charges.

THE FIGHT OF SPRING: After months of politicking and negotiations, yesterday was the dramatic final day before measures on the November state ballot were locked in, and while a deal was made to pull an anti-tax motion that threatened Los Angeles’s Measure ULA “mansion tax,” the labor-led “billionaire tax” is moving forward to be decided by voters — as are two billionaire-funded measures to cancel it out.

LEAPING BEAUTY: Today through Sunday, the New York City Ballet wraps up a five-day engagement at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, its first performances at the venue in 20 years. If you really want to make a Friday night of it, the plaza outside the Pavilion will also be hosting a Spain vs. Uruguay watch party, followed by the season opening of Dance DTLA, a free dance party.

CALLUS IN WONDERLAND: CicLAvia is back this Sunday with a ride between Expo Park and Leimert Park, where you can also check out the Festival of Masks at the Leimert Park Art Walk.

STONE-EO AND JEWEL-IET: This weekend marks the Culver City Gem and Mineral club’s 63rd(!) annual Gem and Mineral Fest, featuring gem and mineral dealers, exhibits, and workshops. What’s this year’s theme, you ask? Malachite!

THE “NOT!”-CRACKER: Saturday is the final day of “Obsessed,” a show dedicated to the fashion of the nineties, at the ASU FIDM museum downtown. Designs on display include works from Vivienne Westwood and Tommy Hilfiger, and a Versace combo worn by Princess Diana.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, an assortment of contributions from the past week in the #celebritysightings channel:

“John Tesh at Studio City Erewhon.” -@Max Silvestri

“Jeremy Allen White at the Original Farmers Market” -@Miguel Contreras

“Lukita Maxwell outside at Rosty in Highland Park yesterday” -@powerllama

“Mary Steenburgen in Downtown Santa Monica.” -@Carter Rubin

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “I Know a Man” by Robert Creeley.

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