Week-Long LA Warehouse Fire That Impacted Air Quality and Businesses Knocked Down

A fire near downtown Los Angeles that has affected the health of nearby residents and caused businesses economic harm for more than a week was knocked down Wednesday night, fire officials said.

A fire at a 491,000-square-foot cold storage warehouse located near homes in Boyle Heights burned eight days. Firefighters have been knocking down walls piece by piece in an effort to extinguish remaining hot spots.

Firefighters have now cleared the way for a cleanup that will involve removing millions of pounds of food from the site east of downtown Los Angeles. Up through early in the day on Wednesday, firefighters were still encountering smoldering debris and a hotspots, while water-dropping helicopters made drops of 500 gallons through a hole in the building to douse the hotspot, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Residents in the area have complained of respiratory symptoms, and local businesses are feeling an economic impact from the ever-present haze, according to numerous media reports.

Firefighters were unable to enter the building due to the danger heavy-duty steel racks that stretch from the floor to the ceiling, and they were unable to ventilate the roof due to insulation, which is what they typically do to release gas and smoke and gain visibility inside a warehouse, the Associated Press reported.

Firefighters responded around 2:30 p.m. on June 17 to the fire, which sent large plumes of dark smoke into the air in Boyle Heights and surrounding areas. As it continued to burn, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday for Los Angeles County in response to the fire, directing agencies to support local response efforts and help protect public health and safety.

The company that operates the site said the fire started while contractors were testing solar panels on the roof, providing a possible explanation for how the blaze began, according to a report on the ABCNews website.

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