Carson Residents Bring Lawsuit Over Foul Smell

CARSON (CBSLA) - A smell that has been terrorizing Carson residents for over a month has reportedly not gotten any better over recent weeks.

In response, residents and crews from Public Works have taken measures to reduce the odor, to no avail.

While LAFD has reported that the smell is not life-threatening if inhaled, it is still enough to cause many residents to avoid the area completely, remain inside for as many hours of the day as they can and in some cases move away.

Some locals claim to feel constant headaches, nausea, dizziness, and burning eyes as a result of the putrid smell.

A certain group of residents has taken more matters into their hands, bringing a lawsuit to a local business and warehouse that supposedly bear some sort of responsibility in the hydrogen sulfide gas and odor that lingers over their city.

The class-action suit, filed with Los Angeles County Superior Court, states that a fire broke out at the warehouse, just days before the odor began to plague the area. The warehouse reportedly contains highly-flammable ethanol-based hand sanitizer products. The suit also claims that the warehouse lessee maintained unsafe conditions which led to the fire.

"That fire put debris such as cardboard, pallets and ethanol-based hand sanitizer that got into the channel, causing the combustion — causing the hydrogen sulfide that you're smelling here today," said attorney Carlos Urzua.

The county director of Public Works also said their investigation was pointing to the fire as a cause of the stench.

"That fire as we mentioned in your press conference is suspect number one for us, in respect to the materials that have entered into the channel," said Director of Los Angeles County Public works Mark Petrella on Oct.14

Prologis, Inc. and Liberty Property, LP, are named as co-defendants in the suit. Prologis, Inc., the owners of the warehouse, acquired Liberty Property in 2019.

The lawsuit calls for Prologis, Inc. to pay for residents' relocation expenses as well as for their future medical monitoring, in relation to the odor and problems caused after its initial exposure to the public. Additional statements in the lawsuit reveal that materials from the warehouse and debris from the fire found their way into the Dominguez Channel, where they negatively reacted with the stagnant water and vegetation in the area.

As crews continue to take various measures and work with deodorizers, hydrogen sulfide levels have dropped in recent days. However, the smell still persists.

"It's a chemical and psychological warfare that I feel we are fighting here in our communities — in our homes," said resident Monique Alvarez. "There's a danger lurking in my home at night. I can't see it. But I can feel it."

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)