A dramatic fire that rapidly spread across solar panels at a Boyle Heights cold-storage facility was finally contained Wednesday evening after an ammonia leak forced authorities to issue a shelter-in-place order for those living nearby.
The blaze broke out around 2:35 p.m. at a 490,000-square-foot Lineage facility on South Los Palos Street and quickly escalated into a hazardous materials incident.
Firefighters initially appeared to gain the upper hand, but the situation worsened when flames reached an ammonia line inside the building, prompting crews to immediately abandon rooftop and interior operations.
A storage facility in Boyle Heights on fire with flames visible on the roof and large plumes of black smoke filling the sky. ONSCENE MEDIA“All units were called off the roof and out of the interior,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said earlier in the response.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said the ammonia was released after the fire reached a line inside the facility. He noted the gas is generally not dangerous unless someone has respiratory issues or comes into direct contact with it.
Air sampling did not find ammonia in the smoke plume, according to LAFD.
A safety vehicle blocks a street filled with smoke from a massive fire. ONSCENE MEDIAMayor Karen Bass urged residents to stay indoors as the smoke drifted toward the 710 Freeway.
“Firefighters are on the scene battling a large fire at the cold storage facility… I urge everyone in the impacted areas to get indoors immediately, close windows and doors, turn off air conditioning, and avoid unnecessary travel to the travel,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.
The shelter-in-place remained in effect as of 7 p.m. for portions of Boyle Heights.
In a rare move for an urban warehouse fire, officials called in multiple water-dropping helicopters around 4:20 p.m. to slow the spread of the flames according to KTLA. The aerial attack appeared to make a significant difference, helping crews knock down the fire by about 6 p.m.
Firefighters battles a massive fire at a storage facility in Los Angeles. KTLA
The inferno was reported a bit after 2:30 p.m. in the Boyle Heights area in the 1400 block of South Los Palos Street. KTLADespite the intensity of the blaze and reports of small explosions, the building’s roof remained largely intact — a result experts attributed to the concrete construction commonly used in cold-storage facilities.
No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
