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The report warned green bottle flies could grow rapidly in the waste of the Boyle Heights warehouse. Carolyn Johnson reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
More than a month after a fire broke out inside a cold storage facility in Boyle Heights, nearly half of 88 million pounds of food waste that has been rotting away amid triple-digit temperatures has been cleared out from the warehouse, the facility’s owner said Saturday
Lineage Logistics said it’s “reached a milestone,” adding some 40 million pounds of food waste was removed from the Boyle Heights site, placed in odor-controlled containers and hauled to an off-site location
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The company will now begin the process of scraping the leftover trash and power-washing the concrete slab
“(We) expect demolition and cleanup of the remaining burned structure to be largely complete in the coming days,” Lineage said. “We will maintain the plastic sheeting currently in place to cover the north side of the burned structure. The plastic wrap was installed to contain the severe stench and fly infestation although NBCLA’s reporting found it has been unsuccessful
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NBC4 Investigates exclusively reported this week on a city-commissioned report that the mountains of food waste inside the fire-damaged facility during a heat wave have accelerated the breeding of flies capable of infecting wounds in people and animals
Boyle Heights neighbors have also consistently complained of a cough, eye irritation, difficulty breathing from the garbage-like odors coming from the building
For the coming days, the stench could become even more intense — at least temporarily
As workers are set to begin removing the wall between the burned and unburned sections of the warehouse, they may have to replace the wall with plastic sheeting, which could increase the impact of the odors. The latest phase of the cleanup will take about three days, the company said
“We are adding three more high-powered carbon filters on the Union Pacific side of the building to help minimize any potential impact,” Lineage explained, saying it’s moving “as fast and as safely” as it can
As the unsanitary and potentially harmful conditions near the warehouse persist, fines against Lineage could continue to mount. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also announced this week that it had issued a citation for rodent and pest-control violations, as well as for an “ongoing odor nuisance.”
To stop the daily $500 fines, Lineage will have to take corrective action by removing all fire-damaged food and other potential fly-breeding
