A fire broke out late last week at the Lineage cold food storage facility in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. A 500,000-square-foot building housing 85 million pounds of frozen meat, poultry, and bread went up in flames when solar panels on the roof ignited.
The same building had a solar panel fire in August 2024.
LAFD Chief Jamie Moore described the challenge to reporters: the facility functions "like a giant cooler" — corrugated steel walls packed with dense foam insulation that continued burning despite helicopter water drops. The blaze compromised an ammonia line, triggering a shelter-in-place order from south of the 101 Freeway to Washington Boulevard, east of Soto Street to Indiana Street. Approximately 70 residents on two streets were evacuated. LAPD issued a citywide tactical alert. The shelter-in-place wasn't lifted until Friday evening at approximately 8:45 p.m.
The smoke spread well beyond Boyle Heights. San Gabriel Valley, Northeast Los Angeles, Glendale, Burbank, and downtown were all affected. Haze was visible at Dodger Stadium. Air quality deteriorated across LA County.
Five days after the fire began, it was still burning.
Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on day four. He was reportedly in Chicago during the opening days of the crisis.
Mayor Karen Bass was also reportedly in Chicago when the fire started. In January 2025, Bass was in Ghana when the Palisades Fire ignited and tore through Pacific Palisades. In both cases, Bass was out of the city during the opening days of a major emergency in Los Angeles.
Former California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, now a State Senate candidate, publicly called out LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis for insufficient community assistance during the crisis: "Do your job. The Boyle Heights fire is one block across the street from East Los Angeles." Democratic mayoral candidate Nithya Raman and Republican Lt. Governor candidate Gloria Romero have also been vocal about the response failures. The criticism came from across the political spectrum.
The Lineage building caught fire in 2024. It caught fire again in 2026. Bass was reportedly absent during the Palisades fire. She was reportedly absent again. Newsom's emergency declaration came on day four of a crisis LAFD described as still active five days in.
That's not a coincidence. That's a record.