By Mariana Dale for LAist
Originally published Aug. 11, 2026
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said environmental tests have concluded the Boyle Heights warehouse fire in June did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools.
However, on Tuesday they reported lead levels in the soil at two elementary school campuses that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold. Officials announced the results one day before classes resume at dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.
The district promised to give families advance notice of testing results ahead of the start of school on Wednesday. Those results were posted in a 561-page document uploaded to a district website Tuesday morning.
The district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety concluded that schools near the disaster “remain safe for occupancy and that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread residual contamination or conditions at LAUSD campuses posing a health hazard to students or staff.”
District officials said indoor and outdoor testing found the presence of ammonia, formaldehyde and manganese, but at low levels that did not raise concern about fire-related contamination that could harm the health of students or school staff.
While some parents have told LAist they feel safe sending their children to schools in the area, others have said they’re worried about potential health impacts from the fire, which covered the neighborhood in smoke for more than a week and left tons of food to rot in the sun.
Two campuses with elevated lead levels
Officialssaid they found elevated levels of lead in soil samples from two schools. City Terrace Elementary School had 170 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, while Christopher Dena Elementary School had 120 milligrams. Both exceeded the 80 milligram threshold considered “acceptable” by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Carlos Torres, director of LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told LAist the district doesn’t believe the lead is tied to the warehouse fire.
“Most likely this could be from things like lead-based paints from use in the past. It could be from agricultural use,” Torres said. “There isn’t such a thing as clean soil anywhere.”
What’s next
Torres said the front lawn at City Terrace and the tree wells at Dena, where elevated levels of lead were detected, have been fenced off. He said district staff are reviewing the lab results and could decide to conduct more testing, remove or otherwise remediate the soil, for example, by laying down mulch.
The district plans to hold another virtual meeting for East L.A. parents on Monday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.
This is a developing story. LAist will update this post as more information is available.
