Boyle Heights warehouse fire will "ebb and flow," LAFD says
Thick black smoke returned to the Boyle Heights warehouse on Friday as the Los Angeles Fire Department continues its multi-day operation to douse the flames deep inside the 500,000-square-foot building.
While firefighters said they halted forward progress on Wednesday, LAFD Battalion Chief Nicholas Ferrari stressed that the firefighting operation "will be an extended event."
"You're going to see this fire ebb and flow through different conditions of smoke," Ferrari said. "The smoke will go away, and it'll look like we have the fire out, and then 10 minutes later it can flare up again. This is all predicted, and it is all part of our strategy to effectively attack this fire."
With 75,000 pallets sitting in 600-foot-long aisles that are 54 feet tall, the building's sheer size and construction have made firefighting complex, Ferrari said.
"The fire is so deep-seated in the building that we cannot get water to the seat of fire," he added.
Ferrari added that similar fires in the country took 60 days to extinguish. He noted that the other cases did not have the same amount of resources LAFD has access to.
"We are a very specialized and aggressive fire department with very specialized resources," Ferrari said. "Hazardous materials task forces, urban search and rescue, aircraft and we brought all of that to bear on this incident."
Ferrari said crews "made great progress just today alone" after "superheated smoke" vented from the roof and allowed greater visibility into the building. Crews will continue dousing the fire throughout the night.
"We are a very aggressive fire department, and we are working through the clock tonight; we will not stop applying water," he added. "We will not stop fighting the fire until this is extinguished."
The ongoing firefight
LAFD said the fire started in the rows of solar panels along the roof of the Lineage Logistics warehouse in the 1400 block of S. Los Palos Street on Wednesday afternoon.
Lineage said it believes the fire started while contractors tested the third-party owner's solar array.
"The fire translated inside the building underneath the roof, and we estimate that the fire is burning between the top of the pallets and all of the product and the roof space," Ferrari said.
Aerial footage captured the "ebb and flow" nature that Ferrari described, with the fire appearing to be mostly extinguished before flames reignited as crews were still next to the solar panels. Firefighters quickly transitioned into defensive mode and moved off the roof.
LAFD Fire Chief Jaime Moore said the compromised panels allowed the flames to spread "almost like a wildfire." Because of the nature of the fire and the building's construction, the incident commanders resorted to water-dropping helicopters to help douse the flames, something typically seen only during wildfires.
"This is not normal. Fire departments around the world may wonder why we're doing this. The weight of a water drop can collapse a roof, but the building construction of this roof and the fact that there was no firefighters inside and no public safety risk made it an out-of-the-box prudent choice," Ferrari said.
While the building's construction allowed water drops, it has prevented firefighters from entering.
"It's an extreme firefighter risk to go down an aisle that's 600 feet long, one way in, one way out, product 54 feet high, with the potential to fall, " Ferrari said. "It would trap firefighters and kill them."
Ferrari added that the facility has a diesel-powered generator, which has enabled the sprinkler system to suppress the fire as crews remain at the perimeter of the building.
LAFD believes that leaking ammonia could have helped fuel the fire. With help from Lineage, crews removed the ammonia from the facility and also isolated or moved 56 lithium-ion-battery-powered forklifts away from the fire by Friday.
"Our understanding from LAFD and AQMD is that there have been no measurable ammonia concentrations recorded in the community since the fire started," Lineage said in a statement. "Additionally, Lineage has proactively taken additional steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community."
Ferrari said LAFD will "move forward" with its plan on Saturday.
"Based on the talents of this organization and all of our partners, I'm more optimistic that we're going to extinguish this fire," he said.
The ongoing firefight raised concerns about air quality, with regulators issuing a particle pollution advisory for the area that will remain in effect until 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
"If there is smoke in the area, stay inside, but otherwise there is no additional hazard to be aware of at the moment," LAFD spokesperson Nicholas Prange said.
To view current air quality, download the South Coast AQMD app or visit www.aqmd.gov/AQImap.
