Rotting Food Still Inside Boyle Heights Warehouse After Cleanup Deadline

Key Takeaways

• Los Angeles officials say Lineage missed the Aug. 14 deadline to clear rotting food from the Boyle Heights warehouse.
• Lineage disputes the deadline, saying its 45-day cleanup clock runs through Aug. 20.
• About 94% of 88 million pounds of food waste has been removed, but loose food remains on 40 miles of shelving.
• Air quality regulators have a separate order requiring at least 10% of remaining food waste to be removed weekly, and seven days for thorough power-washing and disinfection after full removal.
• Mayor Karen Bass has directed city lawyers to pursue civil litigation and property liens.
• Bass has also paused processing of Lineage's plans to rebuild.
• Residents report odors, flies, rodents and health problems.

Introduction

The city's deadline to remove rotting food from a fire-damaged cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights expired Friday with the job unfinished. The cleanup has become a public health crisis for neighbors, and Los Angeles is now preparing legal action against Lineage Logistics.

A Disputed Deadline

The Los Angeles Fire Department transferred the warehouse back to Lineage on June 29. The city says all food waste needed to be out by Aug. 14. Lineage says its 45-day clock started July 7, after the fire department ended its 24-hour fire watch, putting completion on Aug. 20.

The mayor's office told FOX 11 that food debris was being removed before the site transferred back to Lineage on June 29, and that the city has consistently communicated that all food waste must be out by Aug. 14.

The city set the deadline for 5 p.m. Friday, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Lineage attributed the end of the fire watch to persistent flare-ups that made the building unsafe to enter.

Lineage COO Jeff Rivera told The Times that the company was handed control of the building on July 7, and that an executive order states the operation clock starts when the building is handed over. He acknowledged the discrepancy over when the city expected the food to be removed, saying, "I think that was a gap that we should have aligned on earlier." A letter from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, dated June 29, notified Lineage that the building was in violation and required all dead organic waste to be removed within 45 days.

A Lineage spokesperson reiterated Thursday night that the July 7 start date "is documented in every report we have submitted to the city and is the start date recognized by the South Coast AQMD." The spokesperson added, "We are at day 37. We have time remaining, and we intend do use every hour of it." Earlier in the week, an update on Lineage's website said its goal was to complete food removal by the end of the week, which would line up with the city's deadline. When asked why the company hadn't challenged Friday's deadline until hours before, Lineage repeated that the start date of July 7 has been documented in its reports to the city.

Lineage added: "The timeline is dictated by the reality on the ground, not by our willingness or our resources... We have spared no expense, held nothing back, and we are not slowing down. We will not stop until the job is done. No cleanup of this complexity has ever been executed at this speed."

The mayor's office disputes that interpretation. City officials say Lineage did not push back on the Aug. 14 date until this week. Lineage had previously indicated it would finish by Aug. 15.

Bass responded: "Lineage is a multibillion-dollar company with the resources to meet the 45-day deadline I set. They have indicated that they will not meet it Friday. Meanwhile, the people of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles continue to live with the consequences. Families are still dealing with horrific odors and the constant uncertainty of when this nightmare will end."

The executive order issued by the city did not provide details about what happens if the deadline is not met.

Earlier Thursday, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said it appeared Lineage would not meet the cleanup deadline.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said she was "disappointed and angry" that the company had not completed the cleanup, and called on the mayor to take action.

In a statement late Thursday, she added: "For weeks, the City has publicly told Boyle Heights, the media and anyone that would listen that August 14 was the deadline for Lineage to remove the food waste from this facility. If Lineage believed that deadline was wrong, it had weeks to say so publicly. Waiting until the eve of the deadline to announce a different interpretation of the calendar is not accountability."

What Remains Inside

Lineage says full pallets and intact boxes are gone. What remains is loose food packed six stories up across roughly 40 miles of shelving. Heavy equipment cannot reach those areas. Workers in protective gear are climbing into racks to push product down, while others clear it by hand.

A company spokesperson said Thursday that 93% of the bulk food waste had been removed.

As of Friday morning, about 94% of the food had been removed, according to the company's online tracker. Lineage COO Jeff Rivera said the cleanup is "going to be close" to the company's Aug. 20 deadline, adding, "It's going to be day by day. It's not easy. The last 3% is the hardest, and it's a battle."

Photographs from recent county health inspections, provided to NBCLA by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, show the interior of the facility with debris, food, sludge and standing water. The images were taken in the days leading up to the Aug. 14 deadline, and a Public Health report from an inspection conducted Thursday confirmed "unsanitary or nuisance conditions" at the warehouse.

The company expects to spend between $80 million and $100 million on cleanup. It reports more than 100,000 hours of work, an average of 400 workers a day and more than 4,000 truckloads of debris removed.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has its own separate abatement order, which requires Lineage to remove at least 10% of the total food waste each calendar week, or roughly 8.8 million pounds. At an Aug. 6 hearing, Lineage reported it had removed about 80% of the food, meaning the remaining 20% would be due within two weeks of that hearing, also landing on Aug. 20.

Local Context: Boyle Heights Neighbors Bear the Brunt

Residents say the smell is making them sick. Consuelo Granados, who has lived on the block for 50 years, says the odor causes headaches and her medicine has not helped. Rosa Samaniego told NBC Los Angeles she has thrown out bedding, beds and clothes because of the putrid smell.

Granados said her voice has been affected, adding, "My voice gone. Like it right now, I don't have any voice. And it's no good. And nobody help. Nobody help." She also said her cat, Princesa, has been catching rodents she believes come from the warehouse.

Granados said she runs her air conditioning all day. She watched her cat, Princesa, go after what she believes are rodents from the warehouse. "Right now, yeah, I believe. Because my cat is catching right now something. I don't know what," Granados said.

Martin Ramirez, who runs a shop across the street, found maggots under cars on Friday. He asked for fly traps and was told none were available. Olympic Thrift Shop owners say business has dropped because customers cannot stand the odor.

Ramirez said he does not believe the cleanup will finish on time, telling FOX 11, "Exactly. Supposedly it has to finish today but I don't think so." He added, "I care little whether the date was Friday or next week." He also said he ended up paying for fly traps after being told none were available, asking, "Yeah, I want to know where's the money, because we asked for the fly stripes and they told us they don't have it, so where's the money?" Ramirez said his clients have delayed or canceled work, and some customers have walked away because of the stench. He said flies bother his mechanics, and he has had to redo paint jobs and clear coats tainted by thick dust from the warehouse. On Friday morning, he found larvae on the sidewalk and nearby trees. "All they want to do is to keep pushing the dates to appease people," Ramirez said. "We don't want them there anymore."

Speaking in Spanish, Ramirez added, "People don't want to go here, they don't want to be here. Well, none of us want to be here. All of this is very inconvenient."

Resident Dolores Hinojos said, "I don't think they worked hard enough to get that done. I think if it was anywhere else, it would've been done like that."

At a community meeting Thursday night, residents packed the Boyle Heights Community Center and vented frustrations. The forum was virtual, with Lineage representatives attending via webinar and wrapping up after an hour. "Our soil, our air, our water, everything has been contaminated," one resident said. Laura Garza added, "They picked and chose what questions they were going to answer. And then, it was the same answers. You can call these phone numbers. Lineage has a number you can call if you want an air conditioner. But what's the number you call if you want to know what chemicals you were exposed to, and why they haven't cleaned it up yet?"

The company said earlier this week it is distributing more than 1,150 fly traps throughout the community to reduce the pest problem.

Earlier this week, students in the Los Angeles Unified School District returning to schools near the warehouse received face masks from teachers and volunteers for their first day back. At least one resident has sued Lineage, citing costs for air purifiers and utilities.

Background

The fire at the Lineage cold storage warehouse broke out on June 17. In the weeks that followed, the city and state lawmakers pushed for a faster cleanup. On Aug. 12, state lawmakers proposed bills in response to the fire. The proposed legislation, announced by city and state leaders, is also intended to ensure local governments and companies are prepared for similar, unexpected emergencies. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued 25 notices of violation and has received more than 4,400 odor complaints since July 12.

The agency received more than 4,200 odor complaints between July 12 and Aug. 5.

The agency received 246 of those complaints between Aug. 5 and Aug. 13.

Lineage, the building's tenant-operator, leases the rooftop to a third-party solar panel company that installed a solar array on top of the structure. The company has said it believes the fire started when the subcontractors were working on the solar panels.

The Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Lineage asking about substances being released in Boyle Heights. An abatement order approved by the South Coast Air Quality Management District requires Lineage to follow some 90 legally enforceable conditions to eliminate the foul odors, including removing at least 10% of remaining food waste weekly. The order also mandates a thorough power-washing and disinfection of the entire facility within seven days after the food waste is completely removed.

The abatement order also directed Lineage to expedite the removal of rotting food from the facility.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District's abatement order was approved after two days of meetings that involved residents, many of whom expressed odor and health concerns, and representatives from Lineage.

City records show some work inside the warehouse began while firefighters were still there monitoring the blaze. The company has also been slowly and consistently racking up fines tied to poor air quality and complaints from the community.

What Happens Next

Mayor Bass has ordered city lawyers to pursue civil litigation, cost recovery, penalties and a lien on the property.

Bass called the missed deadline "unacceptable" and said she will "hold Lineage accountable for every day that Boyle Heights residents are forced to breathe putrid air and deal with the flies and rats, because of the company's negligence." During an online town hall with residents, Bass said it was clear, to "no surprise to anyone, we know the work is not done." In a statement later that evening, she added, "At every turn, Lineage has failed to meet its responsibility to this community."

Bass said one of her deputy mayors toured the facility Thursday, providing the city with a firsthand assessment of the remaining conditions.

Bass added, "Lineage, frankly, in my opinion, has worn out its welcome in the community. And, I've taken executive action to pause the processing of their plans to rebuild."

Air quality regulators say their enforcement authority is separate and continues regardless of the city's deadline.

The city also set deadlines for structural and construction debris removal within 90 days and final environmental clearance within 120 days.

The budget includes steps to mitigate the smell and the vermin drawn to the site and surrounding neighborhoods.

Lineage says it will keep working through Aug. 20 and plans to finish all food removal, spot cleaning and disinfection by Aug. 27.

In a statement Tuesday, COO Jeff Rivera said, "We continue to make meaningful progress against this massive cleanup effort every single day, and we will keep working until the job is done."

FOX 11 requested interviews Friday from Lineage, the mayor's office and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. All three responded in writing. None made anyone available for an interview.