Residents want company out after warehouse fire

Neighbors in Boyle Heights say smoke and putrid smells have been 'so awful.'

- SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

Crews in Boyle Heights continued working Thursday to haul away millions of pounds of rotting food in hopes of returning the firestricken cold storage facility and the surrounding neighborhood back to normal.

But a block away, a group of about 50 residents and community organizers who endured days of dark smoke and, now, putrid smells say they don't want things to go back to the way they were before the fire erupted at the Lineage-operated refrigerated warehouse.

"It's really hard for us to be living like this," said Alma Lagunas, a resident and community organizer. Lineage "needs to clean up and never [come] back." Behind her, the crowd chanted in Spanish, "Que se vayan!" ("They should go!") It's unclear how long cleanup efforts will take in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, where large warehouses and other industrial buildings neighbor residential homes. Lineage did not immediately respond to inquiries Thursday.

At the rally on the corner of La Puerta Street and Olympic Boulevard, residents said they battled thick smoke after the fire ignited on June 17.

They say the stench from the 85 million pounds of now-rotting food that was stored inside the refrigeration warehouse is forcing them and their children to remain indoors.

"My boys like sports, and they can't be outside," Lagunas said.

Soledad Martinez, a 77year-old resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years, said the fumes and uncertainty had made life in her neighborhood unbearable.