Renewed Fire Erupts at Los Angeles Cold Storage Facility, Air Quality Alerts Issued
Fire Resurgence at Cold Storage Warehouse
A fire that has been ongoing for several days at a cold-storage warehouse in Los Angeles reignited on Friday evening, releasing significant amounts of black and white smoke into the atmosphere and triggering new air quality warnings for surrounding areas. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reported that the blaze at the Boyle Heights facility flared up shortly after 5 PM local time due to a shift in wind patterns. The department stated, "More smoke is currently visible in the area of this incident; however, there is no additional fire hazard." By early Saturday, smoke from the site was visible from several miles away.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) extended a particle pollution advisory until 12:30 PM local time on Saturday, cautioning that smoke from the facility could continue to impact nearby neighborhoods. The agency noted, "As firefighting efforts progress, smoldering material may continue to affect air quality directly downwind of the facility as these cooler smoke plumes do not rise as high into the air." This smoke may lead to poor air quality in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.
Authorities indicated that there were no evacuation orders in effect, but temporary shelters were established for residents who preferred to relocate while firefighting operations were underway. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis announced that emergency management officials had been instructed to set up a shelter at City Terrace Park. "Out of an abundance of caution, I have directed the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management to open a shelter at City Terrace Park for residents who would prefer an alternative location while firefighting operations continue," she stated.
The City of Los Angeles also opened a shelter at the Pecan Recreation Center. During a news conference on Friday evening, Mayor Karen Bass urged residents to exercise caution. "As this operation continues, I want to ask people, when they can, to please stay inside," she advised. "Keep your pets inside. And if you need to go outside for any reason, please wear a mask. We know this is concerning. This is inconvenient. But we are doing everything we can to end this as soon as possible, and we want everybody to be safe in the meantime." Residents were also advised to keep windows and doors shut and turn off window-mounted heating and air-conditioning units.
The warehouse, managed by Lineage Logistics, serves as a temperature-controlled storage facility primarily for frozen food distribution. The company stated that it believed the fire started while contractors were conducting tests on a rooftop solar array owned by a third party. "At this time, we believe the fire began while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the solar array located on the facility's roof," the company explained.
Lineage further clarified that the site was not used for storing hazardous materials and that officials had not detected any measurable ammonia concentrations in surrounding communities since the fire began. "Additionally, Lineage has proactively taken additional steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community," the statement added. No injuries had been reported as of Saturday morning.
The fire initially broke out shortly after 2:30 PM local time on Wednesday and quickly spread across solar panels on the roof of the 491,000-square-foot warehouse. An ammonia leak also occurred inside the building, prompting authorities to issue shelter-in-place orders for nearby residents and businesses. Due to the fire's intensity and concerns about ammonia exposure, firefighters had to adopt a defensive strategy, battling the blaze from outside the structure. The scale of the incident necessitated the use of water-dropping helicopters, which released thousands of gallons of water onto the facility.
LAFD Chief Jaime Moore described the operation as highly unusual, stating, "These are unprecedented tactics that are being used." Fire officials initially reported on Wednesday evening that the spread of the flames had been contained, and shelter-in-place orders were lifted later that night. However, changing weather conditions reignited hotspots inside the building, leading firefighters to continue their efforts on Friday. Battalion Chief Nick Ferrari noted that the fire remained challenging to extinguish because crews could not access its source. "The flames are so deep-seated in this building, we cannot get water to the seat of the fire," he explained.
Ferrari also mentioned that there were approximately 56 lithium battery-powered forklifts inside the warehouse. Firefighters managed to remove every operational forklift they could access to mitigate the risk of a battery-related incident. "There are still some remaining forklifts inside the building," he said. "They are in an uninvolved portion of the building, and we are making a stand there to prevent the fire from entering that building so that there's not a lithium-ion battery hazard. This is going to be an extended event."