‘It’s an embarrassment’: Rotten odors from Lineage warehouse cloud Eastside kids’ first day of school 

At Eastman Avenue Elementary School, the noxious smell of rotting food from the Lineage warehouse less than a mile away was unmistakable as parents dropped off their children around 7:45 a.m. for the first day of school. 

At an entrance gate, school workers welcomed students and handed out kid-sized KN95 masks to anyone interested. 

Many parents shared their frustrations over their children going back to school while the effects of the Lineage warehouse fire continue to torment their community. 

“[They should have] moved the kids to another school until the smell went away,” Hugo Campos, an Eastman parent, said Wednesday morning. His 8-year-old son is starting third grade. 

“It’s an embarrassment that they would send them here as if we’re animals. They are our kids.”

Over the past few weeks, the Los Angeles Unified School District has assured parents and staff that campuses near the site have been thoroughly cleaned and deemed safe for students to return. With schools now open, the cleanup at the warehouse continues as Lineage rushes to meet LA Mayor Karen Bass’ Friday deadline to remove the rotted food waste from inside.

As they dropped off their children on Wednesday, some parents were skeptical about the extent of LAUSD’s cleanup efforts. 

Rosa Samaniego walked into her 7-year-old son’s classroom with a napkin in hand, ready to wipe a windowsill and check for dirt and dust. 

“Is this clean?” Samaniego asked, holding up the napkin with visible dirt in the shape of her finger. “Is this LAUSD scrubbing the schools? They’re not. This is unhealthy for the children.” 

Samaniego is part of a recently formed group of residents impacted by the Lineage fire known as Protect LA Now. For weeks, the group has been organizing vigils to raise awareness for the harm caused by the fire and the lasting impacts it has had on Boyle Heights, East LA and surrounding communities. 

Another member of Protect LA Now, Yesenia Pum, held up a sign outside the schoolyard that read “Environmental racism” as students walked in. 

Members of community groups including Eastside Padres and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) also spoke to parents outside and encouraged them to sign a petition urging Lineage to leave the community permanently.  

LAUSD says campuses are safe to return

Over the past few weeks, LAUSD has provided updates and hosted webinars to inform parents on the cleaning and environmental testing efforts it conducted for the over 50 schools within a 3-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse. 

Those efforts included: 

• Deep-cleaning school campuses including floors, walls, furniture, drinking fountains, lunch pavilions, playgrounds and walkways
• Replacing all MERV-13 HVAC filters and placing air purifiers in all classrooms and offices
• Independently testing air quality, water, dust and soil samples 

The district said that air monitoring will continue at Eastman Elementary School and Stevenson Middle School for the duration of the cleanup.

A 561-page environmental assessment report released Tuesday by the LAUSD Office of Environmental Safety concluded that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools and thus, were safe for students and staff.

The report did, however, find lead levels in the soil at City Terrace Elementary School and Christopher Dena Elementary School that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold–the district doesn’t believe the findings are tied to the warehouse fire. 

As students return to campus, LAUSD said there will be masks available for students and staff upon request, school principals will decide whether students should remain indoors based on odors and outdoor conditions, and psychiatric social workers will be available on-site to support students.

Lineage says cleanup is 90% complete 

Meanwhile, Lineage said they are on track to meet the mayor’s 45-day deadline to remove all the food waste from the site by Friday. As of Monday, the company said they had removed 90% of the food waste. 

“At ninety percent, we are in the final stretch, and we will continue to tirelessly work until the work is done,” Jeff Rivera, chief operating officer of Lineage, said in a statement. 

The company said it expects to spend $80 million to $100 million on the cleanup. 

Last week, the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Hearing Board unanimously approved an abatement order requiring Lineage to strengthen odor-control measures, expand air monitoring and improve communication with residents. 

Parents’ and teachers’ worries linger 

It was an unusual summer for many families. Summer school sites were relocated, baseball games were cancelled, and instead of spending time outside, some children spent the past two months behind closed doors to avoid the unhealthy air, mounting stench of rotting food, and hordes of flies and rats in their community.  

“[This summer] was horrible, like living through another pandemic,” said Lizandra Jimenez, who lives in East LA two blocks from the warehouse with her sons, 11 and 14. “It was hell where we were isolated from information, where we had to endure a smell, where we had to endure the heat. My sons were anxious because they wanted to go outside but we couldn’t, and there was no information about air quality.”

For weeks, parents and teachers across the Eastside have been calling on LAUSD to have stronger protections for students and to be more transparent about environmental testing results. The groups, including Eastside Padres and United Teachers Los Angeles, have also called on Lineage to leave the community permanently. 

On Aug. 6, United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing LAUSD teachers, sent a letter to the district demanding that they expand resources and share the data before the first day. (LAUSD ended up posting its report on testing efforts on Tuesday.)

Following the fire, Jimenez said her family endured days of headaches, sore throats, congestion and irritated eyes. Now, she hopes LAUSD has taken the necessary steps to ensure that doesn’t happen again. 

That worry about air quality lingers for Jimenez, whose children attend Griffith STEAM Magnet Middle School and Roosevelt High School less than 3 miles away from Lineage. She also worries about the safety of the students who attend Eastman , where she works as a school supervision aide.

“Who’s going to solve this for us? Or why?” Jimenez asked. “We’re not to blame.”