City and county leaders sent a scathing letter Saturday, July 4 to the owner of a fire-damaged cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights, demanding the company take a series of steps to remediate public health damage caused by the eight-day blaze.
The letter from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, County Supervisor Hilda Solis and City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado — addressed to Greg Lehmkuhl, president and CEO of Lineage Inc. — accuses Lineage Logistics of failing to commit to “the most basic steps of sharing comprehensive, real-time data about the volume of rotting food and debris being removed from the site.”
It comes one day after planned demolition work was halted at the facility at 1400 S. Los Palos St., with Lineage officials citing concerns about preserving evidence amid the ongoing investigation into the cause of the massive fire.
The letter says Bass “is fully prepared to deploy the full measure of her executive power to champion and protect the community of Boyle Heights, as well as unincorporated East Los Angeles, in partnership with Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who took action through an urgency motion on June 23.”
Bass, Solis and Jurado go on to list several demands, including the following:
— “Provide immediate, temporary housing for Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles residents impacted by the recent fire. Acceptable options may include hotel rooms, short term rentals, and corporate housing provided to households located within the disaster perimeter, including all households affected by the current odor, vector, and other issues. … The company should immediately provide these temporary housing options at no cost to affected residents and maintain them until a safe, stable, and longer-term housing solution has been secured by your company for all affected residents.”
— “… The company should partner with an experienced relocation or housing provider to secure an adequate supply of longer-term housing for residents and their pets and service animals that must enable residents to remain connected to their jobs, schools, healthcare, and other essential aspects of daily life.”
— Create a smoke and toxin remediation program at no cost to renters, homeowners and business owners.
— Fund federally qualified community health centers that are providing mobile medical clinics in the community, including but not limited to Oscar Romero Clinic, St. John’s, Via Care, JWCH Institute Inc., AltaMed, and El Proyecto del Barrio, as well as the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
— Establish a community notification schedule with 48-hour advance notice of all major hauling activities, demolition phases, or operations likely to generate dust, odor, noise, or traffic.
— Establish a dedicated, multilingual hotline and claims center to provide residents and businesses with a single point of contact for information, claims and case management throughout the recovery.
— Make a firm commitment for Lineage leaders and contractors to attend and participate in community meetings to directly inform and take feedback from residents and business owners in this neighborhood. The first two community meetings are scheduled for July 6 and July 9.
“To date, despite many requests, we have yet to receive detailed and complete plans,” the letter states. “Therefore, without further delay:
— Provide a comprehensive and detailed material removal schedule with phase milestones, not to exceed 90 days for full interior clearance.
— Provide a complete daily manifest of all materials to be removed, including but not limited to estimated material weight, material category (e.g., burned food, rotted food, construction debris, hazardous materials, refrigerants, solar panel materials, etc.). This manifest should also include the proposed disposal destination and truck wash decontamination plans.
— Provide detailed, complete, and effective odor and vector control plans to mitigate secondary public health impacts to surrounding neighborhoods. This should be done immediately and should continue until the site is free of odors and pests.
— Provide a detailed and complete fire water runoff management plan to prevent contaminated leachate from entering storm drains, the LA River, or other waterways. This plan must include testing and ensure that water is analyzed and results are interpreted and published daily.
— Provide a detailed and complete air quality monitoring plan during demolition and hauling operations with real-time data reported to SCAQMD and analyzed and interpreted and published daily.
— Provide detailed and complete plans for removal of hazardous materials, including but not limited to asbestos. This plan must include testing and ensure that results are analyzed and interpreted and that results are published daily.
— Identify all engaged certified waste haulers, biohazard disposal contractors, and environmental remediation firms.
— Retain a certified industrial hygienist or licensed environmental professional of record responsible for site oversight and submit their names and affiliations along with their agreed upon scope of work and any associated timelines.
— Publish designated operating hours for truck hauling to minimize impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, schools, and businesses, and provide advance notice of any significant changes.
Lineage representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
On Friday, the company sent its own letter to Bass and Solis, stating that it was “prepared and permitted to begin demolition work on the Los Palos site this morning, consistent with your Emergency Executive Orders and County Public Health Directive of June 29,” but Thursday night, “on the eve of a federal holiday, Altus Power — the owner of the rooftop solar array whose equipment is suspected of starting the fire and who has publicly committed to making the Boyle Heights residents its ‘first concern’ — sent correspondence demanding that we stop demolition of the site. The work we planned does not affect the suspected area of origin or materials potentially relevant to evidence preservation or further investigation,” the Lineage letter continued.
“This is unacceptable. Public safety is our number one priority, and every hour of delay is an hour we can’t mitigate against active fire flare ups, remove debris, address the smell, or clean up the site for the people of Boyle Heights. Unlike Altus and other involved parties, Lineage has been on the front lines since day one, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to execute a safe and swift remediation effort,” the company added.
Altus Power representatives fired back with a statement of their own.
“Our first concern is for the community affected by this fire, and we continue to cooperate fully with local officials in their ongoing investigation,” the company said.
“The cause of this fire and resulting damage, including Lineage’s role, has not yet been determined and in the last 24 hours multiple parties joined in asking Lineage to appropriately preserve and not destroy relevant evidence during its site remediations. It is unfortunate that Lineage appears to be focused on pointing fingers rather than getting this community the swift clean-up and answers it deserves.”
Bass responded to Lineage on Friday, urging the company to focus on removing tons of rotted food left in the warehouse after the fire.
“I’m in receipt of your letter raising concerns about third parties seeking to delay you from cleaning up the property,” the mayor wrote. “The city has not asked and is not asking you to demolish any portion of the building that could be relevant to determining the source of the fire or other issues in any litigation among you and anyone else with an interest in the building or in any lawsuit. The city is simply urging you to continue to take all measures to eliminate any fire flare ups and remove the food waste as quickly as possible.
“No court order is preventing you from doing this and it is critical that you stay laser focused on clearing out your warehouse of your stored food waste and debris since it is that food decomposition that is causing the greatest ongoing harm to our adjacent communities.”
Jurado, who represents the area, provided the following statement to City News Service on Friday evening:
“I am calling on Lineage, Altus, the property owner, and every involved party to cooperate immediately with the city, county, LAFD, Public Health, and regulatory agencies. If there are legitimate evidence-preservation concerns, they must be addressed through a clear, written protocol that allows investigators to do their work without delaying urgent remediation. But no private party should be allowed to use process, finger-pointing, or liability disputes as an excuse to slow down cleanup that the community urgently needs.”
The fire broke out June 17 and raged for eight days, sending a massive amount of smoke into the atmosphere and prompting warnings for nearby residents to stay inside.
The city, county and state all issued local emergency declarations in the days following the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Lineage officials have said they believe the fire started while a subcontractor working for Altus Power, which owns the solar array on top of the building, was conducting tests on the panels.
On Friday, Bass and Solis also announced an extension of multiple community mobile health clinics this weekend and next week in partnership with community health providers for those affected by the fire.
Available health services include respiratory screenings, oxygen level checks, asthma and breathing assessments, blood pressure and basic health screenings, eye and skin irritation evaluations, health education on smoke exposure, mental health support, care navigation and referrals and connection to ongoing primary care.
No appointments are necessary.
The St. John’s Community Health Mobile Clinic Schedule for this weekend is as follows:
— July 4-5, Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center, 3141 E. Olympic Blvd., 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
— July 6-8, Ruben Salazar Park, 3864 Whittier Blvd., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
After this weekend, the Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until further notice. This center serves as a centralized location where residents and businesses of Boyle Heights and nearby communities can obtain air purifiers, food kits, financial assistance, help transitioning to a new job, receive health services, and access to various recovery resources and city and county programs.
The city shelter at Pecan Recreation Center, 145 S. Pecan St., has transitioned to day-time use only and has returned to regular youth programming. Residents are welcome to use the center during the day for refuge and to connect with available resources. Pets are welcome.