Updated: 9:41 p.m., Saturday June 20, 2026
The city of Los Angeles and the governor’s office declared an emergency on Saturday, three days after a fire ignited in a Boyle Heights warehouse and blanketed the region in harmful smoke.
While firefighters continue to douse the fire in water, the large plume of smoke continues to hang over Los Angeles.
Officials expect that the residual smoke will continue to spill out of the warehouse over the weekend, Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime Moore announced Saturday, as firefighters begin to use larger helicopters to make water drops on the warehouse.
The fire at the cold storage facility began burning Wednesday on a solar panel farm on the warehouse’s roof and is now burning through the rubber insulation around the building.
“We’ve got a giant 500,000 square-foot refrigerator, if you want to call it that, where the surface has been on fire for almost three days now,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime Moore said at a Saturday press conference.
Officials did not call for any additional precautions, like shelter-in-place orders even as the city awoke to a smoky layer across multiple neighborhoods. Strong winds flared the fire, sending large plumes of smoke over the region.
“There’s no hazard in the air from a chemical or the particulates itself,” Moore said. Authorities have been monitoring the fire and water runoff from the site, but the only concern should be for people with respiratory issues due to the smoke, Moore said.
“This is no different than a brush fire, in essence, with the smoke,” Moore said. He clarified that different materials are burning, but the readings on the air do not show any toxic properties.
Officials revealed there is roughly 85 million pounds of slowly warming food in the warehouse, including poultry, beef and other types of meat.
Still, the main concern is the health and safety of residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, whose district includes Boyle Heights, reiterated that the city would provide answers about the health risks from the incident.
“This is a prolonged incident involving heavy smoke, hazardous debris concerns, environmental cleanup needs an ongoing public health monitoring,” Jurado said. “I know people are tired. I know people are worried, and I want people to know that they will get clear answers about what is in the air and what they should do to protect themselves, and what support is available right now.”
Local emergency declared
In her office’s emergency declaration, Mayor Karen Bass called the fire a “major, multi-jurisdictional incident” and to provide all the necessary resources, her office delcare the local emergency to keep the city safe.
“The City and County have opened spaces for families seeking relief from the smoke, and we will continue working around the clock and doing everything possible to put this fire out completely,” Bass said in a statement Saturday.
In a statement, Jurado said the declaration is “crucial because Boyle Heights is not just responding to a fire. Residents have lived through days of smoke, shelter-in-place orders, disruptions to daily life, and ongoing questions about what this means for their health and well-being.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Saturday night that he additionally called a state of emergency.
“California is deploying specialized resources, supporting local firefighters, and pre-positioning critical supplies to protect communities and accelerate recovery,” he said.
Residents across LA County experienced poor air quality Saturday morning because of smoke from the fire that first ignited Wednesday at a Boyle Heights warehouse.
The fire flared up Friday after an anticipated change in wind conditions, authorities said. At a news conference Saturday morning, Moore asked residents who are sensitive to smoke to consider staying indoors and reiterated that the fire poses no immediate threat.
“We have corrugated steel on the outside walls filled with very, very dense foam, and the interior walls are also protected by corrugated steel walls as well,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us to get in there because there’s zero visibility inside.”
Two smoke relief centers opened for residents.
Here’s where they’re located:
Pecan Park Recreation Center
145 S. Pecan St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
City Terrace Park
1126 N. Hazard Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90063
The city’s Department of Recreation and Parks and Jurado’s office opened the Pecan Recreation Center as a smoke relief center on Friday. A second center opened Saturday at City Terrace Park, through the office of LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis.
The centers offer resources such as masks, food, water, temporary shelter, pet assistance and information from public health and air quality officials. They’re open 24 hours a day until further notice.
The fire broke out Wednesday, prompting an hours-long shelter-in-place order due to hazardous materials, including ammonia.
Jurado and her team were in the residential neighborhood near the fire site Friday, distributing air purifiers and masks. She said community groups, including Proyecto Pastoral, Running Mamis and Centro CSO, also went door to door distributing masks.
Residents can contact Jurado’s office at Boyle Heights City Hall to request air purifiers and masks or to make donations at (323) 526-9332. More information is available at @cd14losangeles over on Instagram.
Bass spoke outside the building Friday evening, praising firefighters’ efforts. She added that people in the area could expect to continue to see smoke, and she urged people and their pets to stay inside as much as possible. She asked people to wear masks when they needed to go outside.
“We know that this is concerning. This is inconvenient, but we are doing everything we can to end this as soon as possible,” she said. “And we want everyone to be safe in the meantime.”
