Huge Warehouse In Boyle Heights Lingers into Weekend:
A Cold-Storage Blaze That Ignited Wednesday Is Still Smoldering in East Los Angeles, and Shifting Winds Have Pushed Haze and Toxic Smoke Across into the South Pasadena/Pasadena areas.
The haze and chemical odor hanging over South Pasadena, San Marino, Highland Park and the wider Pasadena area this weekend is not coming from anything local. It is drifting in from a large warehouse fire several miles to the southwest, in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles, where a refrigerated cold-storage building has been burning and smoldering since Wednesday afternoon.
As of midday Saturday, there is no shelter-in-place order and no evacuation for South Pasadena or any of the foothill communities. Those orders applied only to the immediate neighborhoods around the fire and were lifted Friday morning. What does reach our area is smoke, and with it a South Coast Air Quality Management District advisory urging residents to limit time outdoors, especially anyone sensitive to poor air.
What Is Burning
The fire is at a Lineage Logistics cold-storage and blast-freezing warehouse in the 1400 block of South Los Palos Street, a sprawling refrigerated facility of roughly 490,000 to 500,000 square feet used to store frozen food. The Los Angeles Fire Department says it broke out around 2:35 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, beginning on the roof in an array of solar panels before working its way into the structure.
Crews knocked the flames down Wednesday evening with the help of water-dropping helicopters, an unusual tactic in a dense urban setting. But the blaze reignited Thursday when firefighters discovered fire still burning inside a freezer section, and it has produced repeated flare-ups since. The most recent came late Friday afternoon, when a shift in wind sent a fresh plume of black and white smoke into the sky. LAFD said that flare-up was anticipated, that crews on scene caused no additional hazard, and that firefighters would continue pouring large volumes of water into the building for an extended period. The department has described it as a complex, one-of-a-kind incident.
The fire has been difficult to fully extinguish because of how the building is constructed and what it contains. Dense foam insulation has fed the smoke, an ammonia line was breached early on, and crews have contended with solar panels that complicate roof access. No injuries have been reported.
South Pasadena Is Being Smoked-Out
The wind shifted towards town. Plumes from the smoldering warehouse have drifted over downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles and pushed into portions of the San Gabriel Valley. In its advisories, the AQMD specifically named lesser smoke impacts for a wider area including Alhambra and Arcadia, the communities that flank South Pasadena and San Marino, and Los Angeles County Public Health described the affected zone as neighborhoods east of downtown and parts of the San Gabriel Valley. Smoke from a smoldering fire tends to stay low rather than rise and disperse, which is why the odor and haze have been noticeable at ground level even this far from the source.
Is It Dangerous? What the Monitoring Shows
The primary concern for our area is fine particulate matter, the microscopic soot in wildfire and structure-fire smoke that can irritate the lungs and is most hazardous to sensitive groups. The AQMD has been running mobile air monitoring near the fire and says particulate levels there have generally been near normal background readings, with brief, seconds-long spikes inside the plume. During those spikes, monitors picked up slightly elevated bromine and chlorine, which the district says are typical in trace amounts during structure fires and remained below short-term health thresholds. No significant levels of toxic metals were detected. LAFD has said nothing more hazardous than what is found in ordinary fire smoke has turned up in its monitoring.
Recent readings in the South Pasadena area have hovered in the Moderate range on the federal Air Quality Index, with PM2.5 the main pollutant, but those numbers can rise and fall quickly as the wind moves plumes around. Residents are encouraged to check real-time conditions for their exact location.
How Long the Advisory Lasts
The South Coast AQMD first issued a particle pollution advisory Wednesday evening and has extended it repeatedly as the fire smolders. The latest extension runs through roughly midday Saturday, but with active flare-ups continuing and crews expecting to remain on scene for an extended period, a further extension is likely. Readers should treat the advisory as ongoing and check the AQMD for the current status rather than assume it has expired.
What Officials Recommend
The guidance from the AQMD and county health officials is straightforward: if you see or smell smoke, stay indoors with windows and doors closed, run air conditioning on recirculate or use an air purifier, and avoid whole-house fans or swamp coolers that pull in outside air. Limit strenuous outdoor activity, and keep an eye on children, older adults, pregnant residents and anyone with asthma or heart or lung conditions. Avoid adding indoor pollution from candles, incense, grilling or gas-powered equipment. Anyone who needs to be outside for an extended time should consider a well-fitting N95 or KN95 mask. Pets should be brought inside as well. Seek medical attention if symptoms such as persistent coughing, shortness of breath or chest tightness develop.
For Saturday plans, the Moderate air quality and active advisory argue for caution rather than blanket cancellation. Summer camps, youth sports and other outdoor programs may shorten, move indoors or adjust depending on conditions, and organizers are following county guidance. Families with sensitive members should weigh whether to limit outdoor time, particularly during any visible smoke.
State of Emergency and Cleanup
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, speaking at a Friday evening news conference, said the fire is not at risk of spreading and that her central concern is the public’s health, pointing to the smoke from the chemicals used to keep the facility’s food frozen. She urged residents in affected areas to stay inside, keep pets in and wear masks if they go out, and said the city, with the Red Cross and other partners, is distributing masks and air filters. Bass said she expected to speak with Gov. Gavin Newsom about a joint emergency declaration to free up resources for removing and safely disposing of hazardous materials and to head off a larger environmental problem. Two relief centers have been opened for residents nearest the fire, at the Pecan Recreation Center at 145 S. Pecan St. and at City Terrace Park at 1126 N. Hazard Ave., both in East Los Angeles.
A Familiar Address
This is not the first fire at the Lineage facility. LAFD crews responded to a solar-panel fire there in August 2024 and contained it within an hour. The company has also drawn prior federal scrutiny over ammonia-handling compliance. Lineage has said the health and safety of its employees, partners and surrounding communities is its top priority and that it is working with local agencies as the situation evolves. The cause of this week’s fire remains under investigation, though investigators believe it may have started in the rooftop solar panels.
Where to Get Real-Time Updates
Because conditions can change hour to hour with the wind, residents are urged to monitor live air quality through the South Coast AQMD and the federal AirNow service, and to follow LAFD updates for the status of the firefight. The South Pasadenan will update this story as the situation develops.
