While the fire at the cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights is still smoldering for a seventh day, authorities believe they’ve made some significant progress.
Los Angeles City Fire Captain Anthony Tubbs told reporters on Tuesday that firefighters made good progress on Monday night.
“Our USAR teams, urban search and rescue teams, were able to open up holes on the roof, closer to the Noakes Street side, so they could apply large volumes of water onto deep-seated fire that they can see,” he said. “So as you can see, the column of smoke has significantly reduced. So they've done a lot of good work over the evening.”
During a press conference late Monday afternoon, L.A. City Fire Chief Jaime Moore said he hopes to have the fire fully extinguished by the middle of the week.
“My goal, and I've spoken to Chief Ferrari, who's the incident commander on this incident, is to be able to turn this building back to Lineage and to the building owner by Friday,” he said. “I know it's very ambitious, considering what's happened in the past, but that's what my goal is, and that's what we're working towards.”
The fire began on June 17 at the Lineage cold storage facility on South Los Palos St. It reignited once again on June 19. On Saturday, L.A. Mayor Karen issued a state of emergency in Boyle Heights, while Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for L.A. County.
Heavy smoke has been an issue for those living and working near the warehouse. KNX News’ Jon Baird reported seeing people wearing masks in the neighborhood.
A restaurant owner told Baird that business has dropped like a rock in the last week. A delivery man also told Baird that there was a fire at the same cold storage facility a couple of years ago.
Follow KNX News 1070 AM
