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Boyle Heights warehouse fire burns for sixth day
Firefighters continued battling the massive Boyle Heights warehouse fire for a sixth day as a state of emergency remained in effect and smoke impacted communities across the region.
LOS ANGELES - Firefighters continued battling a massive warehouse fire in Boyle Heights for a sixth straight day Monday as a state of emergency remains in effect and smoke impacts millions across the region.
Fire crews continued dousing the large cold-storage warehouse with water from the air and ground as thick smoke drifted into Boyle Heights and surrounding communities.
"Your eyes are burning. It’s really bad for people with respiratory issues," one resident said.
Another added, "Air quality is really bad right now."
Residents said they are growing increasingly frustrated and concerned about ongoing air quality issues, with long lines forming Monday for free masks and air purifiers.
"Right now, they’re doing this to just... you guys be quiet. No, we want a town hall meeting. We want them to tell us what’s going to happen," said Boyle Heights resident Barbara Mariteaz.
The fire erupted last Wednesday at the massive 500,000-square-foot cold-storage facility. Since then, firefighters have been attacking the blaze from the air and on the ground, recently tearing away parts of the structure to reach deep-seated hot spots inside.
"What we’re doing now is pulling everything away so we can take those skins off and get the water to penetrate," Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said. "The more water we put on this fire, the less smoke we’re going to get."
"We’re having a legislative fire to get to the bottom of how this fire started," Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado said.
Mayor Karen Bass also raised concerns about the broader issue of industrial warehouses in residential communities.
"We have these warehouses all around and we don’t know what’s in these warehouses," Bass said. "It’s interesting these locations are only in particular communities, and we need to take a look at that. We don’t want environmental hazards or risks concentrated in particular Black and brown communities."
A similar, but much smaller, fire broke out on the roof of the same building nearly two years ago. Investigators are still working to determine what sparked the latest blaze.
City volunteers continued delivering air purifiers to residents as smoke is expected to linger for days. Many residents say they are still unsure what they are breathing in as the fire continues.
"They’re giving us masks and air purifiers. It’s like a little Band-Aid, you know? What’s going to happen a year from now?" Mariteaz said.
Firefighters say they have made progress, but the building remains too dangerous to enter. Officials say they hope to have the fire out by midweek, though smoke impacts could continue across the region for several more days.