Overview
- A fire on June 17 damaged Lineage’s 500,000‑square‑foot cold‑storage warehouse and left roughly 85–88 million pounds of meat and seafood to decompose inside the building, producing persistent smells and pest problems.
- On Thursday the AQMD hearing board unanimously adopted more than 90 enforceable conditions that include removing at least 8.8 million pounds of food waste per week, restricting where waste can be loaded, sanitizing cleared freezers and operating odor‑neutralizing mist systems.
- Lineage says crews have removed about 80% of the spoiled product, expects to finish bulk removal next week and estimates cleanup costs at $80 million to $100 million while reporting daily cleanup expenditures to regulators.
- Federal and local agencies have increased scrutiny: the EPA sent a letter seeking information about a possible hazardous‑substance release, the county cited Lineage for vector and sanitation violations and fines were raised to as much as $2,000 per day, with city rebuild permits paused.
- More than 4,000 odor complaints and dozens of testimonies from residents reporting nausea, headaches, rashes and breathing problems have driven calls from elected officials for compensation, stronger oversight and limits on siting large cold‑storage facilities near homes and schools.