Overview
- The blaze began during rooftop solar‑array work and broke out on Wednesday, June 17, at a roughly 500,000‑square‑foot Lineage cold‑storage facility in Boyle Heights.
- Firefighters continue largely exterior operations with large ladder pipes and repeated helicopter water drops because dense foam insulation, solar panels and a complex interior make interior attack too dangerous.
- Crews mitigated an early hazardous ammonia leak by shutting valves and pumping the refrigerant off‑site, and teams removed dozens of lithium‑ion forklift batteries to reduce thermal‑runaway risk.
- Air monitors and the South Coast Air Quality Management District have issued particle‑pollution advisories, reported brief trace increases in bromine and chlorine below short‑term health thresholds, and opened smoke respite centers while distributing masks.
- About 85 million pounds of frozen food are beginning to spoil inside the building, creating a looming biohazard that has no settled plan for safe removal or disposal and is the main reason city and state emergency funds and technical teams were requested.