Removal of bulk food waste from a Boyle Heights cold food storage warehouse that burned more than two months ago is complete, air quality regulators said Saturday.
In a news release, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said its enforcement team on-site at the Lineage Logistics property east of downtown Los Angeles confirmed the bulk food waste removal, a major step in the cleanup process following the June 17 fire that burned and flared up for days.
Its completion starts the clock on a seven-day deadline for final cleanup, which includes debris removal, power washing, and disinfecting of Freezer 1, the South Coast AQMD said.
NBCLA has reached out to Lineage Logistics for comment.
The timeline was part of 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 the rotting food, which produced a stench that plagued nearby neighborhoods.
The Aug. 6 abatement order called for at least 8.8 million pounds of food to be removed each week and transported off-site.
Three community groups filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue Lineage in federal court. Keenan Willard reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.
The South Coast AQMD said that since July 12, the agency has received more than 4,900 odor complaints, many describing the scent as four and garbage-like, from the area surrounding the warehouse. Air quality regulators issued 38 notices of violations from June 12 through Aug. 25, the South Coast AQMD said.
The agency conducts daily inspections at the property and air monitoring in Boyle Heights.
A disagreement flared up over the timeline for food removal between the city and Lineage Logistics, the building’s tenant-operator. At the heart of the dispute was when the clock started on a 45-day deadline for cleanup established by the in the weeks after the fire that started on the building’s roof.
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.
Lineage says it’s true it has removed 101.8% of the material from a freezer but that it still isn’t finished with the food waste removal. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved motions to help the Bureau of Sanitation and city Housing Department respond to the disaster. The council’s vote came one day after the Planning and Land Use Management Committee recommended that no permits to rebuild or reconstruct the warehouse should be issued, and to increase fines up to $1 million for notices of violations or noncompliance.
The recommendations are expected to come before the full council for consideration at a future meeting.
Lineage Logistics has said the removal process continued around the clock.
“No cleanup of this scale and speed has been executed before, and we have dedicated every available resource to this effort, expecting to spend over $100M on our total cleanup,” Lineage said earlier this month. “We are not holding back and will not stop until the job is done. Every worker, contractor, and dollar committed to this site remains fully deployed until this job is finished — completely, correctly, and to the standard this community deserves.”