The smell coming out of the burned food storage warehouse in Boyle Heights continues to be an issue for some residents, and it’s expected to get worse temporarily.
Over the weekend, Lineage, which operates the warehouse, began removing a wall separating the part of the building that burned from the part that didn’t. Officials warned that the smell may get even worse temporarily.
“We are adding three more high-powered carbon filters on the Union Pacific side of the building to help minimize any potential impact,” officials said in a statement. “We are moving as fast and as safely as we can, and we will not stop until this community can move forward.”
KNX News Jon Baird spoke with residents who have been dealing with this for weeks and are sick of it.
“I think it's going to get bad because right now, in the morning it was smelling pretty bad, so we have to stay indoors with the doors closed and just be prisoners of our home,” a resident named Katrina said.
Edward, another resident, told Baird the smell gets worse every day.
“It never goes away, sir,” he said. “It's always there, constant. It's not a good situation with the heat.”
He added that it’s hard to escape the smell, and the hot weather just makes it worse.
“A lot of these houses in the neighborhood are old, so you don't have AC,” he said. “You have to deal with just fans and try to keep it as best you can for them, but it doesn't go away. Now the fly infestation has gotten worse. It's just flies everywhere.”
Lineage was cited by the L.A. County Dept of Public Health on Friday for rodent and pest control violations. Earlier in the month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District ordered Lineage to reduce the foul odors after regulators received more than 900 complains within a one week time span.
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