Shelter-in-place lifted after Boyle Heights food storage fire

A fire tore through the roof of a Lineage cold food storage facility on South Los Palos Street in Boyle Heights, igniting solar panels and sending a thick black plume across east Los Angeles. Officials lifted the shelter-in-place order around 8:45 p.m. after the blaze was brought under control, but not before residents across a wide industrial and residential swath were told to stay inside.

The fire started shortly before 2:30 p.m. and drew an aggressive emergency response because of the building’s contents and the risk of hazardous materials. The shelter zone stretched south of the 101 Freeway to Washington Boulevard and east of Soto Street to Indiana Street, with residents told to get indoors, close windows and doors, turn off air conditioning and bring pets inside. About 70 people were evacuated from two nearby streets, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, which issued a city-wide tactical alert as the incident unfolded.

Crews said the blaze appeared concentrated on the roof and solar panel system, but the most serious concern came when an ammonia line was compromised. That raised alarms in a neighborhood where smoke, freight traffic and dense development can turn a single building fire into a broader public-safety problem. Ground crews, hazardous materials teams and at least three water-dropping helicopters were deployed, and ABC7 reported that at least four helicopters responded as firefighters worked to knock down the flames. The ammonia leak was later contained.

The Boyle Heights facility sits in a critical logistics corridor for Los Angeles, used as a port location for imports and exports of foods and beverages. Lineage describes itself as the world’s largest temperature-controlled warehousing company, and the site’s role underscores how a fire at one warehouse can ripple beyond the block where it starts. Smoke, hazmat risk and the temporary loss of a food-storage node all carry potential consequences for nearby neighborhoods and for the supply chain moving through the city.

The same building had already burned once before. In August 2024, firefighters responded to a solar panel fire on the roof of the building, which was built in 2018; crews extinguished that fire in about 50 minutes and reported no injuries. The repeat blaze put a sharper focus on industrial fire risk in Boyle Heights, where solar equipment, refrigeration systems and freight operations sit close to homes, freeways and major streets.