Lineage says it’s true it has removed 101.8% of the material from a freezer but that it still isn’t finished with the food waste removal. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
A self-imposed cleanup deadline set by the tenant-operator of a Boyle Heights cold food storage warehouse was not met Thursday, about two months after a fire at the building.
In a community alert sent Thursday to residents, Lineage Logistics said the food waste cleanup was 101.8-percent complete. The figure includes additional material on top of the food waste removed, Lineage Logistics told NBCLA.
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WATCH HEREHowever, Lineage said it will not finish removing all the rotting food waste by the end of Thursday and that it does not know exactly how much food is left or how long it will take to get out.
Following Lineage's announcement, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released a statement that read, in part: "At every turn, Lineage has failed to meet its responsibility to this community and to provide meaningful support to residents and small businesses. We still cannot get clear answers. The families and small businesses of Boyle Heights and East LA are the ones who continue to suffer every day this mess isn't cleaned up."
The mayor went on to say that city personnel were inside the warehouse earlier Thursday and food waste remains. The city will inspect again Friday.
Work continued into Thursday afternoon at the site.
Lineage has said this final stretch of food waste removal is the most complex. A lot of what is left is lodged in a six-story rack system spanning 40 miles of shelving, areas that heavy equipment cannot reach.
The company said workers in full protective gear are having to climb into the racks.
According to Bass and councilmember Ysabel Jurado, Lineage Logistics has not provided a definitive date on when all the rotten food in the warehouse east of downtown Los Angeles will be cleaned up.
At the heart of the dispute between the city and Lineage is when the clock started on a 45-day deadline for cleanup established by the in the weeks after the June 17 fire.
According to the city, the deadline to finish clearing out more than 85 million pounds of rotting food was Friday. Officials with Lineage said the cleanup clock started July 7, when it said the Los Angeles Fire Department ended its 24-hour fire watch.
Once the food waste is completely out of the warehouse, Lineage must conduct thorough power-washing and disinfection within seven days, according to an order approved by the South Coast Air Quality Management District earlier this month. The air regulatory board's approval came after two days of meetings involving residents, many of whom expressed odor and health concerns, and representatives from Lineage Logistics.
The order requires Lineage to follow some 90 legally enforceable conditions to eliminate the foul odors coming from millions of pounds of food waste inside the facility. The company was also ordered to expedite the removal of rotting food.
The South Coast AQMD said that between July 12 and Aug. 5, it had received more than 4,200 odor complaints about the warehouse, and the agency issued 25 notices of violations to Lineage.
Lineage leases the rooftop to a third-party solar panel company that installed a solar array on top of the structure. The company has said it believes the fire started when the subcontractors were working on the solar panels.
The city also set deadlines for structural and construction debris removal within 90 days and final environmental clearance within 120 days.
Community health impact
The stench-filled aftermath of the warehouse fire continues impacting those who live nearby.
St. John’s Community Health released a new report this week breaking down the ongoing health impacts of the fire as seen through people who visited their mobile clinics. Nearly 92 percent of those patients are Hispanic or Latino and more than 63 percent are 50 years old or older.
More than a fourth of those patients received toxic smoke exposure diagnoses and nearly a fourth of all patients got hazardous substance exposure diagnoses.
The report revealed that residents are dealing with respiratory infections, eye disorders, and persistent coughs.
“That report is very important because it confirms what we have been saying all along. The community is not lying. The community is sick,” Alma Marquez with Protect LA Now, said “I've seen people who come to our weekly meetings on Wednesday and who get proportionally more sick.”
