Sen. Padilla tours Boyle Heights warehouse fire site amid community health concerns: LAFD chief says ammonia wasn't leaked
Sen. Alex Padilla toured the massive cleanup operation at the Boyle Heights warehouse disaster site Tuesday afternoon, as concerns linger about long-term environmental contamination.
The senator and other state leaders are pressing the federal Environmental Protection Agency to continue monitoring air and water quality for any possible long-term impacts. "We need the federal EPA to stay active here, to be a partner here …" Padilla said.
While it was originally thought that ammonia had leaked during the fire, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jamie Moore, who led Tuesday's tour, said the ammonia in the building was never exposed to any flames and was never a threat.
"So, we didn't get any ammonia readings, and we never got any reports of ammonia being expelled," Moore said.
He explained that initially, crews spotted a vapor cloud at the onset of the blaze, but it was determined to be cold air mixing with warm air.
"When you have a building that's minus 10 degrees, when they opened those doors, it was what looked like a big vapor cloud that came out. That was the cold air mixing with the hot air that caused a vapor," Moore said. "It wasn't ammonia …"
The EPA is partnering with the LAFD and South Coast Air Quality Monitoring District to perform air monitoring and sampling to measure levels of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, and toxic metals.
Results of air monitoring data last posted to the Lineage website on July 12 show no health concerns.
South Coast AQMD issued a nuisance violation this week to Lineage, operators of the warehouse, for foul odors affecting the neighborhood as crews work to remove 85 million pounds of rotted food. Moore warned that the current heatwave may worsen the odor.
"We wish all the product would be removed by tomorrow, but that's not the case," Padilla said on Tuesday. "So as long as it takes to work around the clock to remove the product, we want to make sure the protections are in place for the surrounding community. The ongoing monitoring, again, not just of the air, but the water supply as well."
