Boyle Heights Response & Recovery

Dear Mayor Bass and Supervisor Solis:

We write to inform you of a serious obstacle to the remediation you have ordered.

Lineage was prepared and permitted to begin demolition work on the Los Palos site this morning, consistent with your Emergency Executive Orders and County Public Health Directive of June 29.

Our work is staged and debris is pre-treated and ready to move. LAFD’s investigators have confirmed they do not require us to halt this work. Demolition is required to address flare ups and extinguish the fire once and for all.

Last night, on the eve of a federal holiday, Altus Power -- the owner of the rooftop solar array whose equipment is suspected of starting the fire and who has publicly committed to making the Boyle Heights residents its "first concern" -- sent correspondence demanding that we stop demolition of the site. The work we planned does not affect the suspected area of origin or materials potentially relevant to evidence preservation or further investigation.

This is unacceptable. Public safety is our number one priority, and every hour of delay is an hour we can’t mitigate against active fire flare ups, remove debris, address the smell, or clean up the site for the people of Boyle Heights.

Unlike Altus and other involved parties, Lineage has been on the front lines since day one, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to execute a safe and swift remediation effort.

As noted in our July 2 progress report, we have containers staged, debris will be treated and pre-loaded on site and will be ready to move to landfills when they open Monday morning. We are committed to working through the holiday weekend to ensure not a single day is lost. Altus has offered no comparable plan and has not demonstrated any of the same sense of urgency.

On behalf of everyone in the impacted communities, we ask you to act immediately. Hold Altus and any other party seeking to delay cleanup and fire prevention at the site to the same standard of accountability you have applied to Lineage. Direct them to stand down and allow remediation to proceed.

The Boyle Heights community cannot afford to have its community held hostage by a party whose equipment is suspected of starting this fire.

Sincerely,
Greg Lehmkuhl
President and CEO
Lineage, Inc.

We want to provide you with a progress report on the 1400 Los Palos warehouse clean up.  Signal has completed its initial scope of work, including mobilizing resources to be on site right away and launching site safety and mitigation measures and exterior debris cleanup. As part of the planned project transition, Clean Harbors will now be leading demolition and food waste removal.

Cleanup activities will continue without interruption during this transition. As shared previously, Lineage is committed to the fastest cleanup possible without sacrificing health, safety and regulatory compliance.

Clean Harbors is the one of the largest waste management and environmental remediation contractors in North America. Clean Harbors brings the specialized resources, experience, and capabilities required to safely execute this next phase. Signal will continue to support the transition and provide any necessary coordination to ensure a seamless continuation of the project. We thank Signal for their tremendous efforts and collaboration during the early days of this recovery and cleanup process. 

Additionally, members of the Lineage team remain onsite to support both the cleanup operations and our community response efforts. Updates and more information are at onelineage.com/boyle-heights-fire-response 

Lineage is committed to the fastest cleanup that is possible without sacrificing health, safety, and regulatory compliance. We are ready to start the cleanup as soon as LAFD turns over the building to its owner and to us as its tenant operator. We have already hired Signal Restoration Services, an industry-leading cleanup firm, to lead our efforts, and we have already staged cleanup equipment onsite. To ensure we can move forward as fast as possible, we urge the various government agencies involved to quickly address any permitting or other approvals necessary to begin cleanup.

As cleanup efforts commence, we would like to affirm the following key facts:

• This site is used to store and distribute frozen food - not hazardous materials - and is part of a larger supply chain network that feeds millions in the greater Los Angeles area and beyond.
• Our team quickly removed ammonia from the facility, with no concentrations of ammonia being detected in the air at any time since the fire began.
• Firefighters will continue to be stationed on site to address any hotspots and support safety measures for cleanup crews.
• Robust plans for disinfection, odor control, and pest control will be implemented, and we are exploring multiple avenues to minimize disruption to the community including the use of water-tight trailers and containers to transport waste offsite.

Our cleanup continues our commitment to support the community:

• We have been deeply engaged with the LAFD, and our team identified and funded Chinook helicopters to make massive water drops and high-powered water cannons that made a huge difference in fighting this fire.
• We have delivered masks, air purifiers and food to the community, and contributed $2 million to the California Community Foundation that it is rapidly deploying as community needs emerge.

The knockdown of this fire is a testament to the bravery, expertise, and extraordinary efforts of the firefighters on scene. We are grateful for the swift and ongoing actions of the LAFD and surrounding agencies and continue to be grateful that there have been no injuries reported. 

Cold storage warehouses are essential infrastructure. They keep perishable food safe as it moves from farms and ports to grocery stores. This is not a new or experimental industry. Refrigerated warehousing has operated in Los Angeles for more than a century (with some century-old facilities still operating) and is clustered around the region’s goods-movement network, including the rail yards, freight corridors, and later the freeway system along the LA River and east of Downtown. The geography of this network dates back to the late 1800s.

We are grateful and encouraged by the news from the Los Angeles Fire Department that, while things can always change, they are looking to extinguish the fire in days and turn over the building to the owner and our company for clean up as early as Friday. The bravery and expertise we have seen from the firefighters of the LAFD is nothing less than extraordinary.

There’s no doubt this fire has had a huge impact on the local community, and we are committed to showing up in every way we can. From the beginning, we have been working closely with the fire department, resulting in our sourcing and funding high-powered water cannons from elsewhere in Southern California and from Texas, and funding Chinook helicopters that are capable of continuous massive water drops. 

Critically, our team quickly removed all ammonia from the site, with no concentrations of ammonia being detected in the air at any time since the fire began.

We want to be transparent with the community about what is stored in this building. This building is used to store food – meat, bread and other foods you would find at a grocery store – not hazardous materials.

Lineage is a cold storage company that has been an employer in the Boyle Heights community for years. This warehouse is part of a network that helps keep food moving safely through the global supply chain, storing and handling frozen food products that feed millions across the Greater Los Angeles area and beyond. 

As we remain committed to doing everything we can to help firefighters and the community, we want to be clear that this fire was not caused by our operations or our team. Lineage is the tenant-operator of the building, not the owner. We believe the fire started on the roof when the owner of the solar array, Altus Power, was doing tests. The solar array does not power the building directly but provides power into the city power grid. As we step up for the community, we are also urging Altus to join us getting the Boyle Heights community the support they desperately need.

We’re providing air purifiers and masks to the community, and we are going to keep that going as long as they are needed. We also brought in food trucks to provide almost 1,000 meals to residents of Boyle Heights and firefighters.

In addition, we have donated $2 million dollars to the California Community Impact Fund that is being used to deliver immediate support to Boyle Heights residents.

For more information, please visit: onelineage.com/boyle-heights-fire-response

Lineage's top priority is the health and safety of our team members, partners, and the communities in which we live and operate. We know many people living near our facility in Boyle Heights are deeply distraught about the fire that began on June 17, and rightfully so.

Working closely with local officials to identify the community's most pressing needs, Lineage has contributed $2 million to the California Community Foundation (CCF) that will be distributed to support community members who have been impacted by the fire. We are also continuing to work with local officials on providing air purifiers, food and other resources to the community. Our donation to CCF represents our desire to activate funding quickly and nimbly to the organizations making the greatest, most immediate impact on the ground.  

Since the fire began, we have been in regular, ongoing communication with Mayor Bass, Councilmember Jurado, Supervisor Solis and their teams about how we can best assist the community. We continue to be in frequent contact with their offices and remain grateful for their leadership and compassion for the people they serve.

We also continue to work closely with the Los Angeles Fire Department and other agencies to support their efforts to fight the fire and protect the community. To augment their brave and tireless efforts, we have leveraged our network to source high-powered water cannons from Texas, fund helicopters to continue water drops, and partnered with other industrial companies to secure additional equipment to speed up fire suppression efforts.

We also proactively took steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community. We can confirm that no measurable ammonia concentrations have been recorded in the community since the fire began, and we continue to be grateful to Los Angeles' remarkable firefighters for their brave and tireless response.

We are also committed to sharing accurate information.

Lineage is a cold storage and logistics company that has been part of the Boyle Heights community for years. The warehouse at 1400 S. Los Palos Street is part of a network that helps keep food moving safely through the global supply chain, storing and handling frozen food products that feed millions across the Greater Los Angeles area and beyond.

We want our neighbors to know that Lineage does not own the building or its rooftop solar array. We are the tenant-operator of the warehouse building and lease the roof to a third-party solar company, which is responsible for operating and maintaining the array. We believe the fire originated on the roof on Wednesday while the company's subcontractors were servicing the solar array.

Our commitment to this community does not end here. We will continue to share relevant updates as they emerge, and we will continue to work with officials and stakeholders on the emergency response and the community response in any way we can.

For more information, please visit:
onelineage.com/boyle-heights-fire-response

Lineage’s top priority is the health and safety of the community, and we are continuing to work closely with the Los Angeles Fire Department and other agencies to provide any assistance we can. We are grateful to Los Angeles' remarkable firefighters for their ongoing and brave efforts. 

Lineage is the tenant-operator of this building. At this time, we believe the fire began while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the solar array located on the facility's roof. 

This facility is not used for the storage of hazardous materials. It primarily serves as a temperature-controlled storage facility for frozen food before it makes its way to Greater Los Angeles area communities and beyond. 

Our understanding from LAFD and AQMD is that there have been no measurable ammonia concentrations recorded in the community since the fire started. Additionally, Lineage has proactively taken additional steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community. 

This facility and the supply chain it connects with employ hundreds of local jobs. We are grateful that no team members at the facility were harmed.

Lineage’s top priority is the health and safety of our employees, partners, and the communities in which we live and operate. We are deeply grateful to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for their rapid response, professionalism, and continued support in protecting the community. LAFD hazmat specialists continue to monitor air quality in the structure and immediate area. Importantly, there are no indications an ammonia release occurred. We are also encouraged that our employees were safely evacuated and there are no reported injuries. We are working closely with local officials and first responder teams to assess the situation and provide support. This is an evolving matter, and we will provide updates as appropriate.

Lineage’s top priority is the health and safety of our employees, partners, and the communities in which we live and operate. We are aware of the incident and are working closely with local officials and first responder teams to assess the situation and provide support. This is an evolving matter, and we will provide updates as appropriate.