{"id":479145,"date":"2026-09-29T07:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/479145\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:36:14","slug":"report-unclear-on-fire-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/479145\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Unclear On Fire Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Fire Department investigators can\u2019t say for certain what ignited the June 17 fire that tore through Lineage\u2019s Boyle Heights cold storage warehouse. <\/p>\n

But the most probable cause was an \u201cunknown electrical event\u201d within Altus Power\u2019s rooftop solar array, where technicians from engineering firm Pearce Services were making repairs the afternoon the blaze broke out, according to a report released Tuesday after LAFD completed its three-month investigation.<\/p>\n

Fire investigators did not speak to any of the solar technicians present that day, according to the report. But they did contact a vice president at Pearce, which Altus had contracted to get the array running again after it briefly caught fire in 2024, as the Business Journal previously reported.<\/p>\n

Investigators also spoke to four Lineage employees and a witness who lives across the street. They analyzed burn patterns, video footage and thousands of photos, but collected no physical evidence. <\/p>\n

The investigators identified a section of the roof on the north side of the building as the \u201carea of origin\u201d and noted they \u201ccould not eliminate\u201d the solar panels as the source. <\/p>\n

Yet the report does not resolve whether the solar array was powered on at the time and ultimately classifies the cause of the fire as \u201cundetermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

That raises more questions than answers about who, if anyone, is at fault for the blaze, which lasted for eight days, triggered local and state emergency orders, and left the neighborhood stewing for months in the stench of 85 million pounds rotting meat that needed to be removed from the charred remains of the enormous freezer at 1400 S. Los Palos St. <\/p>\n

Now those questions will need to be resolved in court, where Lineage has accused Altus and Pearce of \u201cnegligent and reckless conduct\u201d leading up to the fire, allegedly causing the cold storage real estate investment trust more than $1 billion in damages. All three companies have also been hit with multiple lawsuits, including a class action suit from Boyle Heights residents over harm caused by smoke and ash from the fire, plus putrid odors in the following weeks.<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass, for her part, remained focused on the future of the cold storage real estate sector in the community.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMy commitment is to the residents of Boyle Heights. They deserve transparency,\u201d Bass said in a statement to the Business Journal. Bass added she does not want the freezer warehouse to be rebuilt and promised to continue demanding \u201canswers and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fight over one line<\/p>\n

The LAFD investigation report arrives 12 days after Lineage laid the legal blame for the fire squarely on its rooftop tenant Altus, a solar developer acquired last year by private equity firm TPG in a deal that valued it at $2.2 billion, along with its contractor Pearce, a subsidiary of brokerage giant CBRE.<\/p>\n

The cold storage real estate investment trust accused Altus and Pearce of sparking the fire by re-energizing the array before completing safety tests Lineage had requested in writing, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Representatives for Altus and Pearce have denied the claims.<\/p>\n

Now, Lineage has seized on the fire department\u2019s findings. A spokesperson for the firm drew particular attention to one section of the report labeled \u201cignition and fuel sources.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fire investigators searched the scene for accidental ignition sources like cigarettes or other items capable of producing an open flame but found no such evidence, the report states.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter examination of the area, the following were unable to be ruled out: Solar panels and their connected components,\u201d the lead investigator concluded.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Lineage said in a statement Tuesday there\u2019s only one way to interpret that: \u201cThe report lists only one ignition source the LAFD could not rule out as a cause: \u2018Solar panels and their connected components.\u2019 As we\u2019ve known all along, this is a solar fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altus hit back that Lineage was misrepresenting the findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cLineage unfortunately continues to misinform the public,\u201d a spokesperson for Los Palos Street Operating, a local subsidiary of Altus, said. \u201cIts statement today is in direct conflict with the Los Angeles Fire Department\u2019s finding that the cause of the incident is \u2018undetermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Spot fires all around\u2019<\/p>\n

The report reconstructs the afternoon of June 17 largely through interviews with Lineage employees and a Pearce representative.<\/p>\n

Four Pearce technicians checked in at the warehouse around 6:30 a.m., Cynthia Fernandez, Lineage\u2019s facilities maintenance manager, told investigators. One left for another job site, leaving three on the roof, including Terez Edmonds, a Pearce technician.<\/p>\n

Edmonds did not return the investigator\u2019s calls, according to the report. His account came secondhand from Dorothy Rurak, vice president of health, safety and environment at Pearce, according to her LinkedIn. Neither Rurak nor Edmonds could be reached for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

According to Rurak, Edmonds was working near the center of the roof when he saw smoke rising from the Union Pacific Avenue side of the building. Edmonds found fire coming from underneath a panel and saw that another panel had melted, Rurak told investigators. He tried to put out the flames with an extinguisher, \u201cbut then there were spot fires all around,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At 2:32 p.m., Edmonds called Erica Carbajal, Lineage\u2019s quality assurance supervisor, and asked for more fire extinguishers, according to the report. Carbajal said Edmonds told her the crew had been on \u201cfire watch\u201d when the flames broke out.<\/p>\n

Carbajal called Fernandez, who then called 911, according to the report. A neighbor across the street also called 911 at 2:35 p.m. after hearing someone on the street scream about smoke coming from the roof of the warehouse.<\/p>\n

By 3 p.m. fire crews were battling a fierce blaze. Aerial footage showed heavy flames and thick black smoke pouring from the northern edge of the roof. Crews had nearly extinguished the flames by 3:08 p.m. But six minutes later, fire was sprouting from new areas of the roof and continued to burn, eventually consuming an area larger than three footballs field.<\/p>\n

The fire went on to burn for eight days before crews knocked it down June 24. It damaged about half of the building and destroyed everything inside, according to the report. About 50% of the roof collapsed.<\/p>\n

Fire investigators had limited access to the site while firefighting continued. They finally walked through the building for the first time June 29 and found solar panels consumed by fire, along with portable fire extinguishers scattered around the remains of the roof. Most had been fully or partly discharged, but one still had its safety pin in place, the report said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Los Angeles, CA \u2013 August 05: A clean up crew member places debris from the fire that impacted Lineage Logistics on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Burning questions<\/p>\n

There are some questions the report barely even touches.<\/p>\n

In its complaint, Lineage alleges that Pearce, with Altus\u2019 knowledge, energized the rooftop solar array on June 5 and again from June 10 through June 17, against Lineage\u2019s written request that safety checks be completed first. <\/p>\n

The only reference to that question in LAFD\u2019s report comes from Paul Scott, a supervisor at Lineage responsible for verifying the solar array was safe to place into service. Scott told investigators the safety checks and walk-through were not scheduled until the week of June 22, so no tests had been performed and solar power \u201cwas not yet supposed to be going to the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott also told investigators that Lineage has no access to the array\u2019s monitoring system, according to the report. He said Lineage had no way of knowing whether Pearce was following its protocol.<\/p>\n

The report does not mention the mismatched \u201cjumper\u201d connections, loose bolts or more than 200 connector failures that Lineage cites in its complaint as evidence of faulty workmanship.<\/p>\n

And investigators did not collect any physical evidence, according to the report. <\/p>\n

LAFD\u2019s arson battalion chief Thomas Raymond and lead investigator Samantha Prado signed and dated the report Aug. 25 \u2013 nearly a month before the department made it public and more than two weeks before Lineage filed suit.<\/p>\n

On Sep. 16, a spokesperson for LAFD responded to the Business Journal\u2019s public records request and stated, \u201cthe report is being finalized.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Fire Department investigators can\u2019t say for certain what ignited the June 17 fire that tore through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,150259,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-479145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lineage","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479145","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=479145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}