Crews in Boyle Heights continued working Thursday to haul away millions of pounds of rotting food in hopes of returning the fire-stricken cold-storage facility and the surrounding neighborhood to normal.
But a block away, a group of about 50 residents and community organizers — who endured days of dark smoke and, now, putrid smells — say they don’t want things to go back to the way they were before the fire erupted at the Lineage-operated refrigerated warehouse.
“It’s really hard for us to be living like this,” said Alma Lagunas, a resident and community organizer. Lineage “needs to clean up and never [come] back.”
Behind her, the crowd chanted in Spanish, “Que se vayan!” (“They should go!”)
It’s unclear how long cleanup efforts will take in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, where large warehouses and other industrial buildings neighbor residential homes. Lineage did not immediately respond to inquiries Thursday.
At the rally on the corner of La Puerta Street and Olympic Boulevard, residents said they battled thick smoke after the fire ignited on June 17. Now they say the stench from the 85 million pounds of now-rotting food that was stored inside the refrigeration warehouse is forcing them and their children to remain indoors.
“My boys like sports, and they can’t be outside,” Lagunas said.
Soledad Martinez, a 77-year-old resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years, said the fumes and uncertainty had made life in her neighborhood unbearable.
She lives about four blocks away from the Lineage warehouse and says the odor is, at times, like burning chicken and feathers. Other times, it’s so strong it’s as if she stuck her head inside an old trash can that’s never been cleaned.
“In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen something so awful,” Martinez said. “My question is, when will this be over? We can’t live like this.”
Contractors at the massive Lineage warehouse on Thursday had already placed fans and misters around the burned remains of the building, which had its walls torn down so firefighters could spray water into the structure.
Sagging containers and bags filled with food sat inside on metal racks. Contractors could be seen putting up long white coverings in place of the missing walls.
In a previous statement, Lineage estimated there were about 5,000 truckloads of rotting food to be removed from inside. How long it would take to do so was unclear.
Lineage Chief Executive Greg Lehmkuhl noted the company had been in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and that it was committed to cleaning up “until things are back to normal.”
But some residents insist that’s not what they want.
“The cleanup needs to be done now and fast,” said Maria Jauregui, a 62-year-old resident who lives about four houses over from the Lineage site.
She said she lives with her elderly father, who cannot go outside, talk to neighbors or sit by their home’s orange tree to relax because of the smell. She herself recently went to the emergency room because she was having difficulty breathing, she said.
“We don’t want Lineage to rebuild now, or ever again,” she said.
Los Angeles city officials have said they’ll hold those responsible for the fire and its effects accountable, and that they’ve taken steps to provide resources to the nearby community.
City officials have called for the waste inside the warehouse to be removed within 45 days.
On Wednesday, Mayor Karen Bass’ office announced several mobile health clinics had been launched in Boyle Heights in response to the fire. The clinics, according to a statement from the mayor’s office, don’t require an appointment and can provide respiratory health screenings, oxygen-level checks, asthma assessments, blood pressure checks, basic screenings, and look for eye and skin irritation.
Bass’ office did not respond to questions regarding some residents’ demands that the Lineage warehouse be shut down for good. In a statement, a spokesperson said the mayor wanted to ensure that conditions improve in the affected neighborhoods.
“Mayor Bass has made it clear that the community must be at the forefront of every step of the recovery effort,” the statement read. “She will not accept a recovery process that restores the status quo. She is committed to ensuring this community is safer moving forward than it was before the fire began.”
But some residents on Thursday said city officials, and Lineage, needed to do more.
“I can’t eat because the smell is in my mouth,” said Brenda Wenger, a 56-year-old resident.
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