Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency Saturday as a large Boyle Heights cold-storage warehouse fire burned, producing smoke that officials said could irritate residents.
The blaze was first reported Wednesday at the 500,000-square-foot Lineage Big Bear facility at 1400 S. Los Palos Street, which officials said is used to store frozen foods.
L.A. Fire Chief Jamie Moore said the structure is "like a giant cooler," noting corrugated steel walls filled with dense foam insulation and reinforced interior steel panels, and that ammonia in the refrigeration system may have fueled the initial day of burning.
Moore said crews have controlled the fire to approximately half of the building while the unaffected half has begun to thaw because firefighters turned off refrigeration and removed ammonia; he said the internal temperature remains at around 45 degrees.
Firefighters have relied on continuous helicopter water drops and large aerial ladder pipes, and Moore said the city's contract helicopters "drop about 3,000 gallons of water at one time" and crews are using blaze tamer gel to help smother the fire.
Officials said about 85 million pounds of frozen food remain inside the facility, access is extremely limited because of zero visibility and unstable interior conditions, and crews are not entering the building as they work to isolate uninvolved areas and remove product before spoilage creates a biohazard concern.
Authorities said hazardous material risks have largely been mitigated but that the situation is now shifting toward potential biohazard issues as stored food warms; South Coast Air Quality Management District officials extended a particle pollution advisory until at least 12:30 p.m. Sunday after sensors showed PM2.5 levels were unhealthy following the fire's reignition Friday night.
Two shelter locations have opened at Pecan Recreation Center, 145 S. Pecan Street, and City Terrace Park, 1126 N. Hazard Avenue, and Bass said the city will distribute masks and air filters with the help of the Red Cross while the Emergency Operations Center has been activated and a joint state of emergency was filed with Gov. Gavin Newsom's office.
Lineage, the building's tenant-operator, said it believes the fire began while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the facility's solar array and said, "There have been no measurable ammonia concentrations recorded in the community since the fire started," adding the facility is not used for storage of hazardous materials and no team members were harmed.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Jon O'Brien warned that "deep pockets of smoldering fire remain buried under structural debris and solar panels" and said incident operations "will continue into the foreseeable future," and officials said no firefighters or civilians have been injured and urged residents to report unusual odors, smoke, dust, or other air quality concerns to the South Coast Air Quality Management District by calling 1-800-CUT-SMOG.
At around 5:10 p.m. on Sunday, aerial footage showed another flare-up on the roof, sending a massive plume of smoke into the air as the fire appeared to burn down an exterior wall and onto a lower roof.
Moore said officials initially believed the majority of stored product was bread and wheat but have since learned it includes large quantities of meat, specifically chicken, beef, pork and fish.
Officials said there is currently no order for evacuation or shelter-in-place, and Moore cautioned that while smoke may be irritating for those sensitive to air quality, "there is nothing in the air that is so dangerous that we have to do evacuations or even shelter-in-place," noting similar orders had been issued and lifted twice since the fire began.
Bass said she has asked Gov. Newsom to waive regulations that could hinder response and recovery efforts and to make recovery assistance available through the state, and that the emergency declaration is intended to give the city greater flexibility to coordinate response efforts, secure additional resources, conduct environmental remediation, and seek state and federal assistance.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the radius of the fire extends about 2.5 miles and that in unincorporated East Los Angeles the area includes about 250,000 households.
Authorities cautioned that extinguishing the long-burning industrial fire could take days or even weeks as crews continue to monitor the structure and adjust tactics to reduce environmental and health impacts.