{"id":34349,"date":"2026-08-09T10:13:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34349"},"modified":"2026-08-09T10:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:13:05","slug":"officials-move-to-bolster-recovery-from-boyle-heights-warehouse-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34349","title":{"rendered":"Officials move to bolster recovery from Boyle Heights warehouse fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/2c9a495\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/4032x3024+0+0\/resize\/1500x1125!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2Fb4%2Fbd7c038a4869b29d9f42e9c829e3%2F1564999-me-boyle-heights-rally-ajs-11.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>Weeks after a warehouse fire blanketed Boyle Heights with smoke, ash and swarms of flies, Los Angeles city and county officials  unveiled a slate of measures aimed at speeding recovery, increasing corporate accountability and expanding financial assistance for residents and businesses affected by the disaster.<\/p>\n<p>City Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, introduced a series of measures at City Hall on Tuesday, including setting aside up to $10 million for odor and pest control and direct aid to residents. <\/p>\n<p>The series of motions must first be approved by a committee before coming to the  floor for a vote. Mason Santa Maria, a spokesperson for Jurado, said he believes the City Council  will act quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor nearly seven weeks, families have lived with smoke and ash, odor, flies and pests, disruption and uncertainty. Seven weeks of summer memories that our children will never get back,\u201d Jurado said at a news conference before Tuesday\u2019s council meeting. \u201cResidents did not cause this disaster, but were forced to suffer its consequences \u2014 an environmental burden that the Eastside has carried for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Representatives of Lineage, which operated the burned-out cold storage warehouse, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>At the news conference, Jurado appealed to Gov. Gavin Newsom to deploy additional state resources for the cleanup effort<b>.<\/b> The governor declared a state of emergency in the first days of the disaster, sending thousands of N95 masks and air purifiers to Boyle Heights aimed at helping residents impacted by the unhealthy conditions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re urging, we\u2019re begging, we\u2019re pleading to send more resources,\u201d Jurado said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen the governor down here. I would hope he would come and visit.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Karen Bass\u2019s <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-06-29\/boyle-heights-cleanup-begins#:~:text=Much%20of%20the,within%2045%20days.\">45-day cleanup deadline<\/a> is fast approaching, and Jurado was doubtful that Lineage could meet it. If it fails, the company would face financial consequences. <\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Lineage officials estimated the company had removed approximately 80%  of food waste in the warehouse, up from 60% on July 31. <\/p>\n<p>Jurado\u2019s motion also calls on the City Council to consider slapping responsible parties with much steeper fines \u2014 ranging from $25,000 to $1 million \u2014 for future incidents. The move is intended to create penalties steep enough that they can\u2019t be shrugged off as the \u201ccost of doing business,\u201d according to council documents. Another motion directs the city attorney to explore legal action against any responsible parties to recoup taxpayer dollars spent on the emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Jurado said that the city will seek legal consequences for both Lineage and Altus  Power, which reportedly was  conducting maintenance on   solar panels  atop the warehouse when the fire broke out. Her move on the council floor Tuesday called for <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-07-31\/bass-imposes-new-limits-on-rebuilding-process-for-warehouse-that-burned-in-boyle-heights\">halting cold-storage companies like Lineage from doing business<\/a> in the Boyle Heights area for up to two years. <\/p>\n<p>Representatives at Altus didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>At its meeting Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors approved a motion directing the county Department of Public Health to work with  legal counsel to provide the board with recommendations for potentially increasing penalties for companies responsible for public health violations.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in July, the public health department hit Lineage with <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-07-24\/lineage-fined-for-flies-sanitation-concerns-after-boyle-heights-fire\">fines of $500 a day<\/a> for \u201cunsanitary and nuisance\u201d conditions at the site of the  fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s only fair to ensure that companies that place our environmental and public health at risk are held accountable and contribute to funding these recovery tools,\u201d Supervisor Hilda Solis, the measure\u2019s sponsor, said.<\/p>\n<p>The board motion calls on county officials to consider requiring that \u201cbusinesses with high-risk of community exposure to environmental hazards located in proximity to sensitive locations\u201d submit community health and safety plans to the public health department.<\/p>\n<p>The motion also would launch a Small Business Interruption Fund to help impacted businesses in unincorporated parts of East L.A., as well as those affected by future emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>The board also approved using money in the Countywide Business Interruption Fund, which was established in March, to help businesses affected by the Boyle Heights  fire and other emergencies, including <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-05-22\/east-la-oil-spill\">the May oil spill<\/a> in East Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly LoBianco, director of the county Department of Economic Opportunity, said \u201csmall businesses are continuing to face revenue loss\u201d as a result of the ongoing effects of the  fire. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve been out in the area, you know that there\u2019s still a persistent smell. With the heat wave, it exacerbates things,\u201d LoBianco said during the  meeting. \u201cFolks have initially had property damage, temporary closures, workforce impacts, and they continue to have traffic impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The measure also directed the county\u2019s director of regional planning and  legal counsel to determine whether the county could help fund the Countywide Business Interruption Fund by collecting a fee from \u201call new manufacturing, recycling, warehouse, and any industrial land use facilities that have the potential to negatively impact the economic vitality of small businesses due to their operations in unincorporated Los Angeles County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Singer, chief policy officer for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said in written comments submitted ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Board of Supervisors meeting that the chamber supports \u201cthe motion\u2019s core relief provision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But he said the chamber of commerce requested amendments to the motion, including provisions to minimize the paperwork businesses will have to fill out in order to comply, to ensure that the scope of the  requirements isn\u2019t too broad, and to otherwise ensure the motion isn\u2019t too onerous for businesses that played no role in the warehouse  disaster.<\/p>\n<p>The Board of Supervisors did not take up the requested amendments before voting for the motion.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weeks after a warehouse fire blanketed Boyle Heights with smoke, ash and swarms of flies, Los Angeles city and county officials unveiled a slate of measures aimed at speeding recovery, increasing corporate accountability and expanding financial assistance for residents and businesses affected by the disaster. City Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, introduced&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/de4ca0b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4032x2117+0+454\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2Fb4%2Fbd7c038a4869b29d9f42e9c829e3%2F1564999-me-boyle-heights-rally-ajs-11.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}