Lineage has said it is racing to meet Mayor Karen Bass’ 45-day deadline to remove millions of pounds of spoiled food waste from the burned warehouse in Boyle Heights. That date is fast approaching on Aug 14. Here’s where things stand as we’re more than halfway through.
Cleanup progress
- As of July 20, Lineage has removed approximately 3,520 tons or 7 million pounds of food and building debris.
- An estimated 3,195 tons or 6.4 million pounds of that total is food waste that has been removed from inside the building. (Before the fire, the warehouse stored approximately 44,000 tons, aka 88 million pounds, of food inside.)
- To date, 56% percent of the damaged roof has been removed, according to LA County Public Works.
- This week, Lineage said it increased the number of trucks removing debris from the site.
What’s left to clean up?
- It’s unclear how much food waste and debris are still left to clean up, but an aerial image of the building from Lineage shows that almost half of the building has been torn down and cleared.
- At Tuesday’s LA County Board of Supervisors meeting, Leslie Luke, deputy director for the county’s Office of Emergency Management said Lineage is now working to tear down a concrete wall that separates “Freezer 1”, which burned in the fire, and “Freezer 2.”
- “… by doing so they’ll be able to get to Freezer 2 and rows of product in there. Each one of the rows is about the size of two football fields, and there are about 28 rows in that second freezer,” Luke said.
Odor mitigation
- Residents continue to report strong odors emanating from the warehouse.
- On Friday, July 17, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) issued a formal demand letter requiring Lineage to strengthen its Odor Management Plan after receiving over 900 odor complaints.
- This week, Lineage responded to the letter and said:
- They have implemented misting systems to mitigate odor around the building.
- Food waste is being sprayed down with odor control, bleach and water.
- Food waste from Building 2 will be sprayed down with a Posi-Lock odor containment system, but the contents of Building 1 are too wet to do so.
- They have wrapped the entire building in plastic sheeting and will repair or replace any that becomes damaged or worn within 72 hours
- They are unable to wrap the food being removed from Building 1, as it would add months to the cleanup process.
- The full response from Lineage is available here.
- To report the odor call 1-800-CUT-SMOG, file a report online at aqmd.gov/complaints or download the free South Coast AQMD mobile app to submit complaints from your phone.
LA Documenter Julania Marechal-Raymond contributed reporting for this story. LA Documenters trains and pays LA residents to take notes at local government meetings around Los Angeles. You can find meeting notes and audio at losangeles.documenters.org
