Smoke billows from a warehouse fire at a cold storage facility in Los Angeles on June 20. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
key takeaways:
- The June 17 fire at a Lineage Logistics cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, continued to burn several days later, spreading smoke and prompting emergency declarations.
- Officials said air quality reached “very unhealthy” levels in parts of Southern California as responders faced challenges from the design of the large facility and potential ammonia exposures.
- Authorities ordered road closures, distributed masks and supplies, and urged residents to stay indoors while firefighters continued around-the-clock efforts to bring the blaze under control.
Smoke continues to spread across Southern California five days after a fire at a cold storage warehouse near downtown Los Angeles prompted emergency declarations as air quality reached unhealthy levels.
The massive fire at a Lineage Logistics facility in the Boyle Heights neighborhood on the city’s east side has become one of the region’s most destructive industrial fires in recent years.
Authorities closed intersections around the smoldering warehouse late on June 21 to clear access for emergency workers as firefighters continued a round-the-clock battle against the blaze that broke out on June 17.
“Although it is still burning, the progress is remarkable,” Mayor Karen Bass said at an afternoon press conference on June 22. “I know Angelenos across the city are concerned about seeing and smelling the smoke.”
According to , thick clouds darkened the sky across central and southeast Los Angeles, extending into the San Gabriel Valley and the San Fernando Valley. South Coast Air Quality Management District. An advisory issued at 12:30 a.m. local time on June 23 warned that concentrations of fine particulate pollution in the Boyle Heights area had reached “very unhealthy” levels.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a state of emergency response to the fires, deploying 5.5 million N95 respirator masks, commercial-grade air purifiers, bottled water and other emergency supplies for distribution. Local officials opened relief centers and urged residents near the warehouse to stay indoors whenever possible, with windows and doors closed.
Firefighters continue to battle a blaze at a Los Angeles cold storage facility that has been burning for a week, polluting the sky and sparking air quality warnings.
ABC News’ Melissa Adan reports. https://t.co/nzrF2l9aJc pic.twitter.com/eAIQmi2zhr
– ABC News (@ABC) 23 June 2026
The fire comes as Los Angeles is hosting FIFA World Cup matches and welcoming thousands of visitors from around the world. Although not a wildfire, the smoke-filled skies evoked memories of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 30 people and blanketed large parts of the area in smoke in January 2025.
On social media, residents described difficulty breathing and sleeping and some described the smell as unbearable. Videos showed volunteers distributing masks on smog-shrouded streets and asking for online donations for relief efforts.
Firefighters have faced an unusually difficult challenge in the 500,000-square-foot facility, a massive refrigerated warehouse filled with thick insulation walls and topped with solar panels. Concerns that ammonia used in the cooling system could be released into surrounding areas further complicated the reaction.
A @SouthCoastAQMD A particle pollution advisory will be in effect until 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, residents affected by the Boyle Heights Storage Facility fire should continue to follow @lapublichealth Guidance to protect yourself and your family from the harmful effects of poor air quality. pic.twitter.com/5yjOOiWG6m
– Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) 23 June 2026
After initially using firefighting helicopters to extinguish the roof blaze, they began dumping steady streams of water on the structure, filling the air with steamy clouds that drifted for miles above the nation’s second-largest metropolitan area.
Lineage said it is pumping ammonia from the warehouse and moving it to an offsite location.
“We can confirm that no measurable ammonia concentrations have been recorded in the community since the fire, and we remain grateful to Los Angeles’ remarkable firefighters for their bravery and tireless response,” the company said in a statement. statement.
The smoke was impossible to ignore even for miles. The sky remained hazy over Dodger Stadium on Sunday as the Dodgers hosted the Baltimore Orioles in a 12-1 loss.
“It’s a little dark out there, a little bit of Gotham City,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during a pregame press conference.
Lineage ranks 13th on the Transportation Topics list of the largest logistics companies in North America.
