Solar Panels, Ammonia Challenge Los Angeles Firefighters at Cold Storage Warehouse Fire
Los Angeles Times
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L.A. fire officials said Wednesday evening that crews had gained the upper hand on a massive warehouse fire that involved an ammonia gas leak in Boyle Heights as they extinguished flames burning atop the roof.
The fire ignited shortly after 2:30 p.m. at a nearly 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility at 1400 S. Los Palos St. that is owned by Lineage Logistics.
Shelter-in-place orders were then issued in the surrounding community due to the danger posed by the ammonia leak and thick smoke.
Those orders were lifted Wednesday evening as crews assessed the interior of the building and monitored air quality and water runoff. An air quality advisory is in place east of downtown Los Angeles and in portions of the San Gabriel Valley until 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The Boyle Heights warehouse was the site of a smaller fire in 2024, and in 2023 Lineage Logistics was fined by the Environmental Protection Agency over allegations that it violated safety regulations in its storage of ammonia at a site in Iowa.
The shelter-in-place order applied to an area extending roughly from south of the 101 Freeway to Washington Boulevard, and east of Soto Street to Indiana Street.
"Get inside IMMEDIATELY and close all windows and doors," fire officials said in the alert. "Turn off air conditioning/heating. Bring all people and pets to an inside room and close all vents until you receive more instructions."
LAFD Fire Chief Jaime Moore urged residents to obey the order but said that the ammonia leak was not toxic to individuals unless they had respiratory issues or came into direct contact with the ammonia.
Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, expressed concerns that officials were underplaying the risk, noting that this is one of the largest cold storage facilities in the state and therefore contains massive amounts of ammonia.
"If this was Beverly Hills, they would be evacuating people, not telling them to shelter in place," she said in an interview with The Times. "Anhydrous ammonia is highly toxic and explosive."
Anhydrous ammonia is corrosive to the skin, eyes, and lungs and high levels of exposure can lead to choking, burns and death, according to the EPA.
A smoke advisory was also issued for a broad swath of East Los Angeles, with members of the public urged to limit outdoor exercise and people with health issues to remain indoors.
Crews responded to the incident at 2:35 p.m., when they took an offensive position battling the fire burning solar panels atop the 1,000-by-500-foot commercial building, according to the L.A. Fire Department. Although crews made strong initial progress dousing the roof with water, the leak was then discovered inside the building, and several small explosions reinvigorated the flames and smoke.
Within the hour, all firefighters were called off the roof and out of the building because of the danger posed by the intense flames and the ammonia leak.
As the fire consumed more of the roof, hose lines were unable to reach all areas of the blaze, and three firefighting helicopters were called in and used to dump thousands of gallons from above. These drops helped reduce the amount of smoke being generated by the blaze.
Although helicopters and other firefighting aircraft are commonly used to combat wildfires, they are rarely deployed to structure fires. Moore said that, in his 31 years with the department, this is only the second incident he can remember in which aerial water drops were used to fight a building fire.
Lineage Logistics provides cold storage and blast freezing inside the massive warehouse. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lineage Logistics has previously been accused of failing to comply with safety regulations to prevent the accidental release of anhydrous ammonia. In 2023, the company agreed to pay a fine to the Environmental Protection Agency over how its facility in Altoona, Iowa, managed chemical risk posed by the more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia stored on site.
Its Boyle Heights warehouse also caught fire in August 2024, although that incident was significantly less dramatic. Crews quickly established hose lines on the roof and contained the blaze to a portion of the solar panels atop the structure, achieving knockdown in 48 minutes with no injuries reported, the Fire Department said at the time.
A destructive blaze also occurred at a warehouse owned by Lineage Logistics in Finley, Wash., in April 2024 that completely destroyed the facility and prompted health concerns in the surrounding community.
Times staff writer Andrew Campa and City News Service contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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