A massive fire tore through a cold storage facility in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, sending up a towering plume of smoke that could be seen and smelled across much of the city. The blaze broke out at a plant operated by Lineage, located on South Los Palos Street in the Hollenbeck Division, and quickly grew into a major emergency.
The smoke was so vast that witnesses said it looked less like a normal fire and more like a bomb had gone off, with a long, wide cloud hanging over a greater portion of Los Angeles. People miles away reported being able to see the column of smoke or at least smell it drifting on the wind.
Because the smoke was described as heavy and toxic, an immediate evacuation order was put in effect near the Lineage facility. Neighbors were told to shelter in place, staying indoors with their windows closed, while some residents were physically evacuated from the area as a precaution.
The fire also disrupted traffic across the region. Drivers on the 710 freeway, as well as the nearby 60 freeway, were urged to shut their vents to keep the fumes out of their vehicles as the plume drifted across roadways during the evening commute.
Firefighters mounted an aggressive aerial attack on the flames, a tactic rarely used on a structure fire. Helicopters made repeated water drops of around 480 gallons each, while crews on ladders poured roughly 1,000 gallons a minute onto the building, and the combination appeared to knock down the most active flames.
The Los Angeles Police Department went on a citywide tactical alert in response, allowing officers to work beyond their normal shifts to help manage the public safety situation. Streets around the site were blocked off, and some residents were seen wearing masks out of concern about chemicals in the smoke.
Residents said it was not the first time the building had caught fire, recalling a blaze at the same facility in 2024, and noting that the Lineage company had also seen a fire at one of its facilities in Washington state that year. As crews continued to douse hot spots, the exact cause of this fire remained under investigation.