Boyle Heights residents continue to battle flies, rodents after Lineage warehouse fire

LOS ANGELES - Boyle Heights residents are frustrated as flies, rodents and pests continue to pose a problem weeks after the Lineage warehouse fire.

All while millions of pounds of food rot inside the cold-storage facility.

Many residents want to know what is being done about the pest-control problem.

Every few feet along South Indiana Street leading up to the burned-out warehouse, you'll easily spot a rat or fly trap.

But on extremely hot days, some residents say it's the stench of rotting food that has made them feel sick.

This week, Mayor Karen Bass sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health saying she appreciates its partnership but is concerned with the pace at which the department is addressing this disaster.

In the letter, she notes the city does not have its own public health department and relies on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to help protect residents "in times of environmental disasters, like what continues to unfold in Boyle Heights due to the millions of pounds of rotting food inside the Lineage warehouse."

The Department of Public Health's director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, responded to Mayor Bass in a letter, saying the department shares the city's urgency in addressing the risk of a severe infestation of flies in and around Boyle Heights. In the letter, she adds that the County Department of Public Health's staff "have reviewed Lineage's insect vector management plan, provided direction to strengthen its implementation and incorporated recommendations shared by Los Angeles City Deputy Mayor Andrea Green during the review process."

The LA County Department of Public Health says the Public Health's Environmental Health Division "responds to complaints about rodents, flies, fleas, bedbugs, cockroaches, mosquitos, and other vermin and inspects properties to identify conditions that allow them to live or breed. County Code requires property owners, occupants, or other responsible parties to keep buildings and outdoor areas free of conditions that let rodents or other vermin nest, breed, or find shelter, including clutter or stored materials that provide hiding places."

The department adds that "Environmental Health does not provide pest control services or remove pests from properties. When inspectors identify conditions that support pest infestations, they issue a written notice to the property owner, tenant, or other responsible party. The notice explains the specific code violation and the corrective actions required to fix the conditions that contribute to pest activity. Environmental Health's role is to identify unhealthy conditions, notify responsible parties, and ensure that they take the necessary steps to maintain safe, clean and sanitary environments in the community."

In a response to FOX 11, Lineage says it has "expanded its pest-control efforts with support from Orkin to help reduce fly and rodent activity around the site and minimize impacts on nearby residents and businesses."

Lineage says some of the steps currently in place include:

• Daily fly-control treatments, with additional service added if needed.
• Daily inspections of the property perimeter for signs of rodent activity.
• Rodent-control devices installed around the site in strategic locations.
• Up to 248 exterior fly-control devices installed, including bait stations and fly traps, to help reduce fly populations.
• Targeted fly treatments around dumpsters, loading areas, drainage areas, fence lines and other locations where flies are most active.
• Ongoing monitoring to track pest activity and adjust control measures as needed.
• Sanitation and cleanup efforts to remove materials and conditions that can attract pests or create breeding areas.

"In response to feedback from families in nearby homes, Lineage has also distributed approximately 350 fly traps to community members and will be providing a further 800 additional traps through its ongoing neighborhood outreach efforts over the next week," Lineage said in a statement to FOX 11. "As we move forward, we will continue monitoring conditions, listening to our neighbors' concerns and adjusting our pest-control efforts as cleanup work progresses."