The shelter-in-place order was lifted in Boyle Heights after a massive warehouse fire, but smoke is still drifting into nearby neighborhoods. Fire crews say the blaze is difficult to control because of stacked materials, roof hazards including solar panels and
For the third straight night in Boyle Heights, the smell was thick enough to live inside bedrooms. “The smell is just pretty bad, and my room just smells the entire time,” said Jesus Fuentes.
By daybreak, however, the shelter-in-place order was lifted—crews still working under a different kind of pressure: smoke lingering over surrounding neighborhoods and a slow, methodical cleanup ahead.
Firefighters say the warehouse fire has involved large stacks of materials inside the building and hazards on the roof. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis described the problem inside as a tangle of inventory stacked very high. “So there’s a lot of pallets of food that go up to maybe two and a half stories high. and it’s hard to get in there and on top of it. they had solar panels on the roof. ” she said.
On the roof, the dangers kept multiplying as firefighters tried to get ahead of the blaze. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Nicolas Prange said the fire was in the ceiling and roofing. where there are 9 inches of foam. He added that high-voltage lines connected to the solar panels posed another risk.
Overnight, crews requested aerial water drops and worked to remove ammonia lines and numerous lithium batteries used to power forklifts. Officials say removing hazards one by one is a slow, methodical process that could take several days to complete.
Even with the shelter-in-place order lifted, smoke continues to drift into surrounding neighborhoods. City officials say the smoke does not contain dangerous substances beyond typical combustion byproducts. but they still caution residents against exposure. Prange said. “There are no dangerous substances in the smoke besides the general products of combustion. which we don’t recommend anyone breathe.”.
Local leaders moved quickly to help residents who may have struggled to get the message or find what they needed. City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and her staff went door to door to assist residents. particularly those who may face language or access barriers. “We needed to do immediate action and outreach to provide the services for our constituents who are sometimes monolingual. ” Jurado said. “They don’t have access to technology.”.
City officials also plan to study potential long-term health impacts.
The incident has already raised alarms about safety at large facilities, especially those with solar panel installations. Solis pointed out that the same warehouse has caught fire twice in the past two years. “There’s not many buildings that have this large of a facility with so many solar panels. so it’s going to be something that I think we’re going to look at. ” she said.
For residents outside the building, one challenge has been timing and weather. Cloud cover kept smoke closer to the ground, prompting advisories for residents to stay indoors and keep windows closed. But not everyone says that guidance is easy to follow. Edwin Lopez said, “The house is hot right now … its’ fine, but yesterday and the day before, it was really hot.”.
Boyle Heights fire shelter-in-place lifted smoke advisory warehouse fire solar panels ammonia lines lithium batteries Los Angeles Fire Department Hilda Solis Ysabel Jurado