{"id":472782,"date":"2026-09-23T06:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472782\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T06:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:30:26","slug":"they-live-near-lineage-but-didnt-qualify-for-relief-they-say-they-feel-abandoned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472782\/","title":{"rendered":"They live near Lineage but didn\u2019t qualify for relief. They say they feel abandoned"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story<\/a> first appeared on The LA Local<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cynthia remembers the sound of her 1-year-old daughter\u2019s cries as she tried to desperately explain to a caseworker over the phone how the Lineage warehouse fire<\/a> had affected her family financially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had stopped working as a sidewalk vendor because of the unhealthy air, and her family was unsure how they would pay rent that month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like, I don\u2019t know, I was going insane,\u201d said Cynthia, who chose not to share her last name due to immigration concerns.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

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When the 32-year-old mother reached out to Lineage for assistance, she was told she didn\u2019t qualify for relief, even though her East L.A. home was less than 1.5 miles away. The company said its relief was only intended \u201cfor those closest to the warehouse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were close enough to receive the smoke and ash but not to receive aid,\u201d she told Boyle Heights Beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cynthia is among many residents who say they were left out of assistance from Lineage because of where they live. Residents outside the established boundary<\/a> say they breathed the same smoke, smelled the same stench and suffered through headaches, nausea and high utility bills as their neighbors who qualified for help.<\/p>\n

Their question has been simple: If the air has no border, why did we?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cynthia holds her daughter while cooking next to her air purifier and air monitor.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

J.W. Hendricks<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

The LA Local<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Who qualified for Lineage assistance?<\/p>\n

Nearly 800 homes inside a designated area were eligible for assistance from Lineage<\/a> during its recovery operations, according to the company. The support included free air purifiers, masks, air conditioners, temporary housing, grocery vouchers, utility assistance and cash assistance that were often delivered door-to-door by the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Lineage said it had provided support to 90% of the 797 households<\/a> within the designated area and spent over $3.3 million on the recovery and relief effort. Lineage CEO Greg Lehmkuhl told Boyle Heights Beat that the company had made multiple attempts to reach the remaining households. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bilingual hotline remains open,\u201d said Lehmkuhl. \u201cWe remain committed to supporting the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lineage first presented a map outlining the area closest to the warehouse as it announced a new wave of assistance at a community town hall on July 9<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The map was later expanded<\/a> to include all 797 homes and a larger part of East L.A. after L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis pushed for more support, according to her office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the map covers households located between Union Pacific Avenue and the 5 Freeway, Los Palos Street and Herbert Avenue, all less than one mile from the Lineage warehouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The map with the outlined resources was presented by Lineage at an AQMD hearing on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n

Why the boundary matters<\/p>\n

The expanded map still left out residents like Cynthia, who lives with her husband and baby just one block north of the 5 Freeway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it meant residents like Joaquin Angeles, who lives near Eastman Avenue Elementary School<\/a>, would qualify.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Angeles, however, said the support has been lackluster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been given what we really need,\u201d Angeles said.<\/p>\n

Angeles said his family received an air purifier with no filters and a faulty air conditioner that turns off after just five minutes. He has not yet received the $200 Southern California Edison credit Lineage promised.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Aug. 25, more than two months after the warehouse caught fire, his family was able to move into an Airbnb for nearly three weeks. While it allowed them a chance to finally breathe and not worry about what chemicals may be lingering in the air, the support came far too late, Angeles said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By then, his wife and son had already racked up medical bills of more than $1,300 each for emergency room visits for shortness of breath, respiratory infections and painful skin rashes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have money to spare. We\u2019re renting and living paycheck to paycheck,\u201d Angeles said. \u201cAside from the illness itself, it\u2019s a psychological blow. You feel discriminated against; you feel like they don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Joaquin Angeles\u2019s wife, Aurora , shows scarring from a rash on her arm after being exposed to smoke coming from the Lineage fire at her home in East Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Isaac Ceja<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Boyle Heights Beat<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Who created the boundary?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains unclear who initially identified the 797 homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lineage said it did not create the map. A company spokesperson said the map originated with the Boyle Heights Unified Recovery Command, a centralized body made up of city departments established to coordinate updates during the remediation process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The command operates under the city\u2019s Emergency Management Department and was created at the direction of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 executive orders<\/a> to speed up the Lineage cleanup and recovery. The Emergency Management Department did not respond to multiple inquiries about the map\u2019s origin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supervisor Solis\u2019 office told The Beat it had no say in the original map but advocated for the area to be expanded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Navigating help hasn\u2019t been easy<\/p>\n

Residents outside the boundary have had to find alternative resources on their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wind doesn\u2019t have a boundary, why would you make a map?\u201d Cynthia recalls asking herself as she navigated long lines at city and county resource centers.<\/p>\n

City and county agencies initially offered temporary shelters, air purifiers and masks, and later added mobile health clinics<\/a>, grocery gift cards and resource centers in Boyle Heights and East L.A. But residents also reported being turned away at distribution sites<\/a> depending on whether they lived in Boyle Heights or unincorporated East L.A.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A resident picks up air purifiers from a pop-up resource center in Boyle Heights on July 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Isaac Ceja<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Boyle Heights Beat<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Many often turned to nonprofit organizations already working in the community.<\/p>\n

In her search, Cynthia managed to secure an air purifier from InnerCity Struggle, a $500 prepaid Visa card from El Centro de Ayuda and had her July rent covered by Proyecto Pastoral. She bought a $250 air conditioner to manage the unbearable summer heat and a $300 personal air monitor to track the air quality outside her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others haven\u2019t been so lucky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maria Duran, a Boyle Heights resident who lives outside Lineage\u2019s assistance boundary, said she called 311 to receive an air purifier but was told they had run out. She later learned Proyecto Pastoral had stopped accepting applications for rent and utility assistance because of a waitlist of more than 1,500 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all being harmed. I feel frustrated. I feel down,\u201d Duran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three months after the fire, Duran is struggling to pay a utility bill that nearly tripled over the summer. She continues to deal with stubborn eye irritation that has disrupted her daily life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cynthia bought an air purifier following the Lineage fire.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

J.W. Hendricks<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

The LA Local<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Nonprofits have been unable to keep up with the demand<\/p>\n

Angela Gutierrez, a community organizing coordinator at Proyecto Pastoral, says the demand for relief reflects the scale of the disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gutierrez lives about one mile from Lineage and said she was also frustrated that she didn\u2019t qualify for assistance from the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it was like we were abandoned because of our ZIP codes,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cBut for Proyecto \u2014 for me \u2014 there is no ZIP code. To me, everyone is equal. The help is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proyecto Pastoral received about 1,500 requests for assistance before closing its application in the wake of the fire. The organization helped cover rent and utility bills for residents living primarily within a 3-mile radius of Lineage, with emergency funds extending to families living as far as Monterey Park. Its fire relief funds were exhausted last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me sad and angry, because people were affected by the fire \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t just in the immediate area,\u201d Gutierrez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cynthia holds her daughter\u2019s hand in her home.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

J.W. Hendricks<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

The LA Local<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Is more help on its way?<\/p>\n

Lineage said it remains committed to providing resources to the roughly 80 households that have not yet received assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working for weeks to make sure that we support everybody in this area that the county and city determined were impacted,\u201d Lehmkuhl said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company did not indicate whether it planned to expand its assistance boundary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado is pushing for additional funding for the Lineage fire recovery. On Wednesday, the L.A. City Council approved a motion<\/a> to explore creating a fund of up to $10 million to support the affected community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For residents like Cynthia, the need is urgent. She is already behind on rent and is using a credit card to pay for basic necessities.<\/p>\n

In unincorporated East L.A., Angeles said more should be done to help the families affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not asking for a favor; it is simply asking for justice,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Correction, Sep. 21, 2026 4:49 pm:<\/a> This story was updated at 4:48 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2026, to clarify that Proyecto Pastoral received about 1,500 requests for fire assistance. An earlier version incorrectly stated that the organization had helped cover rent and utility bills to 1,500 people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story first appeared on The LA Local. Cynthia remembers the sound of her 1-year-old daughter\u2019s cries as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[177502,22336,185953,17042,48,52,51,154419,155305,47,50,49,185954,185955,185951,185952],"class_list":["post-472782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-boundary","tag-boyle-heights","tag-dont-qualify","tag-east-la","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lineage-fire","tag-lineage-warehouse","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-qualify","tag-relief-zones","tag-who-created-the-lineage-fire-boundary","tag-who-qualified-for-lineage-assistance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}