Frustrations continue to mount for Boyle Heights residents nearly two months after a fire at a cold food storage warehouse followed by concerns about air quality and a lingering stench from rotting food being removed from the building.
This week, a disagreement over the timeline for cleanup at the property flared up between the city and the building’s tenant-operator Lineage Logistics.
“The poor people who live nearby have to smell that 24/7,” said East Los Angeles resident Julio Lemus, who spends part of his day in the community east of downtown Los Angeles. “We are here from 9 to 5, so we get to go home and get some fresh air, but the community, they are suffering. So we want them to hurry up.”
Rosa Samaniego expressed similar frustrations over odors blanketing her neighborhood.
“It’s been chaos, disruptive,” said East LA resident Rosa Samaniego. “We’ve been getting sicker by the minute. We’re used to getting flus and colds, but this is way beyond that.
“Right now, we’re throwing out bedding, the beds, the clothes. It’s putrid, it’s pungent. People don’t understand that we’re breathing this and it’s hurting us.”
Samaniego said a $5,000 credit for Airbnb helped here relocate from her home for a few weeks. Hopefully, the relocation can be extended until the cleanup is completed.
The city of Los Angeles and Lineage Logistics are publicly disputing when the company has to finish cleaning its warehouse. Keenan Willard reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.
At Olympic Thrift Shop, the owners who have run the small business since 1986 said the months since the fire have been among the toughest. They reported a drop in business, in part because many customers can’t stand the odor coming from the warehouse site just a few blocks away, the owners said.
“I’m embarrassed. I don’t want them to say, ‘Oh wow, this store stinks,'” said Susana Palacios. “But I have to explain to each one of them it’s Lineage down the street. Just like two blocks down. And we can’t take it. We’re tired of it.”
At the heart of the cleanup timeline dispute is when the clock started on a 45-day deadline for cleanup established by the in the weeks after the June 17 fire at the Lineage Logistics warehouse east of downtown Los Angeles.
According to the city, the deadline to finish clearing out more than 85 million pounds of rotting food was Friday. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Thursday that Lineage Logistics will miss that deadline.
Officials with Lineage said the cleanup clock started July 7, when it said the Los Angeles Fire Department ended its 24-hour fire watch. Lineage claims the deadline date is still more than a week away.
“That date is documented in reports we have submitted to the city and is the start date recognized by the South Coast AQMD,” the company said in Friday statement. “We are at day 37. We have time remaining, and we intend to use every hour of it.”
As of Friday, 93 percent of bulk food waste was removed, according to Lineage.
“While we are in the home stretch, we know our job isn’t done yet. We are targeting completion of bulk food removal by August 20, followed by spot cleaning, disinfecting and detailing work by August 27, consistent with AQMD’s orders,” the company continued in its most recent statement. “The final stretch is the hardest. Full pallets and intact boxes are gone. What remains is loose food product lodged high in a six-story rack system spanning the equivalent of 40 miles of shelving, in areas where heavy equipment cannot reach. Workers in full protective gear are climbing into the racks to push product down. Others are on the ground with shovels, clearing it bay by bay. This work cannot be rushed without creating serious safety risks.”
Last Thursday, an update on Lineage’s website said its goal was to complete food removal by the end of this 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.
The executive order issued by the city did not provide details about what happens if the deadline is not met. Bass said she was “calling on our City lawyers to pursue civil litigation and all legal options for cost recovery and penalties and to put a lien on the property.”
Bass called the missed deadline “unacceptable,” adding that 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.”
“Lineage is a multibillion-dollar company with the resources to meet the 45-day deadline I set,” Bass said in a statement. “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.
“At every turn, Lineage has failed to meet its responsibility to this community. I’m calling on our city lawyers to pursue civil litigation and all legal options for cost recovery and penalties and to put a lien on the property. I will continue doing everything in my authority to protect Boyle Heights and demand the answers and accountability this community deserves.”
Once the food waste is completely out of the warehouse, Lineage must conduct thorough power-washing and disinfection within seven days, according to an order approved by the South Coast Air Quality Management District earlier this month. The air regulatory board’s approval came after two days of meetings involving residents, many of whom expressed odor and health concerns, and representatives from Lineage Logistics.
The order requires Lineage to follow some 90 legally enforceable conditions to eliminate the foul odors coming from millions of pounds of food waste inside the facility. The company was also ordered to expedite the removal of rotting food.
The South Coast AQMD said that between July 12 and Aug. 5, it had received more than 4,200 odor complaints about the warehouse, and the agency issued 25 notices of violations to Lineage.
The company said earlier this week it is distributing more than 1,150 fly traps throughout the community to reduce the pest problem. Lineage Logistics had pledged to spend between $80 million and $100 million on cleanup efforts.
Lineage, the buildings’ 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 city also set deadlines for structural and construction debris removal within 90 days and final environmental clearance within 120 days.