Newsom Declares State of Emergency as LA Warehouse Fire Burns for Days — 85M Tons of Food at Risk

A massive fire that broke out at a cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights — a neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles — has been burning for days, forced emergency declarations from both the mayor and the governor, and now threatens to create a serious biohazard problem on top of an already brutal air quality crisis. Here's what you need to know.

The fire started on a Wednesday afternoon. According to Lineage, the company that operates the facility, contractors testing a third-party solar array on the roof of the nearly 500,000-square-foot building are believed to have triggered the blaze. What looked like a manageable roof fire quickly spiraled: an ammonia leak inside the building — ammonia is used as a refrigerant — sent small explosions ripping through the structure, drove firefighters off the roof, and sent a thick black plume of smoke billowing across Los Angeles that was visible for miles.

By Saturday, four days in, the fire still hadn't been put out. That's when Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency to unlock more resources, followed hours later by Governor Gavin Newsom declaring a statewide emergency for Los Angeles County. The state started pre-positioning 5.5 million N95 masks, commercial-grade air purifiers, and bottled water for residents — all while water-dropping helicopters capable of carrying 3,000 gallons at a time got pulled in to help, because the LAFD's own choppers max out at 480 gallons.

But here's where this story gets really gnarly. The warehouse belongs to Lineage Logistics, a frozen food storage and distribution hub. Inside: roughly 85 million pounds of frozen meat, poultry, and bread products — enough food to fill about 70 semi-trucks per day going out to grocery stores and restaurants across Southern California. With the building's refrigeration systems knocked out by the fire, all that food is warming and beginning to rot. The interior was sitting at around 45 degrees at last check — way past safe.

Mayor Bass put it bluntly: think about the smell when food rots during a power outage. That gas is exactly what has officials worried. As the food decomposes, it creates gases that could turn this from a fire emergency into a biohazard emergency. Fire Chief Jaime Moore acknowledged the shift: hazardous materials like the ammonia have largely been dealt with, but now comes the rotting food problem. And once the fire is out, crews will still have to remove and dispose of thousands of tons of spoiled food — a massive, complex cleanup operation.

As for whether you'll notice empty shelves at the grocery store — the fire chief was careful. He said he's 'not an expert in food distribution' and couldn't rule out supply chain impacts, though he noted no shortages had been seen yet. Lineage does have multiple other facilities across Southern California, which could help absorb some of the distribution load.

Meanwhile, if you're in the LA area, the air quality is a real concern. Smoke has spread across the San Fernando Valley, darkened skies near LAX, and reached most of the city. Residents — especially kids, seniors, and anyone with heart or lung conditions — are being urged to stay indoors, mask up with an N95 if you have to go out, and call 211 if you need a mask or air purifier. Two 24-hour smoke relief centers are open in the area.

Firefighters made notable progress by Sunday, tearing open the building's insulated walls to better access the fire and splitting suppression efforts into two sections to protect what food might still be salvageable. But this one is far from over.