Boyle Heights warehouse fire: Shelter-in-place order lifted in East Los Angeles; smoke advisory remains in place

Firefighters have been facing significant challenges battling the fire, which involves large stacks of materials inside the warehouse and hazards on the roof.

“So there’s a lot of pallets of food that go up to maybe two and a half stories high, and it’s hard to get in there and on top of it, they had solar panels on the roof,” explained Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Overnight, crews requested aerial water drops and worked to remove ammonia lines and numerous lithium batteries used to power forklifts.

High-voltage lines connected to the solar panels pose an additional risk.

“The fire is in the ceiling, in the roofing, which has 9 inches of foam,” said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Nicolas Prange.

Officials say removing hazards one by one is a slow, methodical process that could take several days to complete.

In the meantime, smoke continues to drift into surrounding neighborhoods.

“The smell is just pretty bad, and my room just smells the entire time,” said Jesus Fuentes.

Fire officials said the smoke does not contain dangerous substances beyond typical combustion byproducts, but they still caution against exposure.

“There are no dangerous substances in the smoke besides the general products of combustion, which we don’t recommend anyone breathe,” Prange said.

Meantime, local leaders have been conducting outreach in the area, distributing masks and addressing community concerns.

City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and her staff went door to door to assist residents, particularly those who may face language or access barriers.

“We needed to do immediate action and outreach to provide the services for our constituents who are sometimes monolingual,” Jurado said. “They don’t have access to technology.”

Officials also plan to study potential long-term health impacts.

Solis noted that the same warehouse has caught fire twice in the past two years, raising questions about safety measures at large facilities with solar panel installations.

“There’s not many buildings that have this large of a facility with so many solar panels, so it’s going to be something that I think we’re going to look at,” Solis said.

Cloud cover in the area has kept smoke closer to the ground, prompting advisories for residents to stay indoors and keep windows closed.

However, some say following that guidance has been difficult due to heat.

“The house is hot right now … its’ fine, but yesterday and the day before, it was really hot,” said Edwin Lopez.