Idling trucks, sandbag piles, and large metal trailers stationed around a massive cold storage facility that burned for days in Boyle Heights signaled that the work to clean up millions of pounds of spoiled food and burned debris had begun Friday morning.
The smells that have wafted through the neighborhood since June 17 — fire smoke and rotting meat — were much lighter than previous days. But the sounds of idling diesel work truck engines had replaced the dozens of fire trucks that had been stationed there for days.
The work of mitigating the potential environmental fallout and addressing the creeping issue of how to handle the worsening smell of millions of pounds of spoiled food is now in the hands of the building’s private tenant.
On Friday morning, Los Angeles firefighters who had been trying to put out the fire, which had sent smoke across the county for miles in every direction, were readying to hand over cleanup work to Lineage , the tenant of the charred building.
“The business owner, the tenants, the restoration company that they have on contract, they are the ones handling the cleanup at this point,” said Branden Silverman, captain of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Lineage, in a statement, said it had already hired contractors to begin the work.
“Lineage is committed to the fastest cleanup that is possible without sacrificing health, safety, and regulatory compliance,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Last week, the 500,000-square-foot insulated warehouse, located in an industrial park between the 5 freeway and a Union Pacific railroad terminal, caught fire while work was reportedly being done to solar panels on the building‘s roof. The fire spread into the building, compromisingits roof, keeping firefighters from going inside and quickly knocking down the flames.
Instead, crews were left to essentially disassemble parts of the structure, starting from the outside, until they could blast water onto the burning material and drown out the flames. LAFD declared the fire “knocked down” on Wednesday evening.
On Friday, there was no longer a stream of water shooting into the center of the warehouse.
Instead, large metal containers were stationed around the facility. Mobile light towers were stationed outside alongside waste management trucks, and large stacks of sandbags were piled up.
Metal grates and sandbags were used to prevent debris from floating into storm drains.
Fire officials said these were part of ongoing efforts to mitigate some of the impacts clearing the site could have on the neighboring community and the environment. A plan for the growing smell of rotten food was also still being formulated, officials said.
“There are also other methods that could be employed — potentially a deodorizer, they could be applied on top of the debris to keep the smell down,” Silverman said. “They’re literally looking at every angle possible to minimize the impact on the community.”
Lineage, which operated the cold storage warehouse, hired Signal Restoration Services — a national cleanup and restoration company — to lead efforts at the Boyle Heights facility, the company said in a statement.
“We have already staged cleanup equipment onsite,” read the statement, which also urged the city to fast-track any permits necessary for cleanup.
LAFD officials said firefighters are expected to remain on scene in case any hot spots are discovered during the cleanup process.
“Once we’re comfortable with that, then we will leave the incident, and it’ll be strictly the business and the business owner’s responsibility to maintain during the demolition process,” Silverman said.
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