Massive cleanup begins after Boyle Heights warehouse fire officially knocked down

Residents near the burning cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights were again ordered to stay indoors as the facility continued to smolder, prompting an ongoing air quality advisory through Friday.

Jesus Delgado, who lives just yards from the burning site, said the smell in the area has been overwhelming.

Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said investigators are looking into the expansive array of solar panels covering the facility's roof as they work to find out what started the massive blaze.

"It smells like burned rubber," he said.

Delgado and his grandmother evacuated during the height of the fire as crews made more than 30 water drops to control the blaze. When he returned Thursday, he found the fire extinguished but the building still being ventilated, and authorities had issued a new shelter-in-place order due to the smoky conditions.

"It will cause a lot of headaches for those that have trouble, like say that they're sick or something ... it will really affect them a lot," Delgado said.

Despite the lingering odor, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said monitoring has not detected dangerous conditions.

"We're getting absolutely no readings of any concern," he said.

The facility, operated by a company called Lineage, is used to store food and beverages and utilizes a process known as "blast freezing," according to its website.

Moore said the fire appears to have started in an expansive array of solar panels covering the facility's roof.

"This a huge field of solar panels. This entire roof is covered with solar panels, so obviously there's some sort of concern there with the way it was built, and that's something they're going to be looking at and trying to investigate," Moore said.

Authorities said they continue to monitor conditions as the investigation into the cause of the fire moves forward.

We are hearing from the Lineage company for the first time since a massive fire involving solar panels broke out at their cold storage facility in Boyle Heights.

The company released the following statement on Thursday:

"Lineage's top priority is the health and safety of our employees, partners, and the communities in which we live and operate. We are deeply grateful to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for their rapid response, professionalism, and continued support in protecting the community.

"LAFD hazmat specialists continue to monitor air quality in the structure and immediate area. Importantly, there are no known ammonia readings from air monitoring reported at this time. We are also encouraged that our employees were safely evacuated and there are no reported injuries. We are working closely with local officials and first responder teams to assess the situation and provide support.

"This is an evolving matter, and we will provide updates as appropriate."

A new shelter-in-place order was issued Thursday afternoon as firefighters began ventilating smoke from the facility that burned.

The order covers an area south of the 101 Freeway to roughly Washington Boulevard, east of Lorena Street and west of Indiana Street. Residents in the area west of Lorena Street are being advised that they may see smoke as a result of the ventilation work.

A new shelter-in-place order was issued Thursday in the Boyle Heights area as the Los Angeles Fire Department works to ventilate a warehouse that burned.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.

A special particle pollution advisory has been extended through Friday, June 19, at 12:30 p.m., the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced on Thursday.

Officials said the area was checked Wednesday afternoon for measurements of particulate matter and airborne metals.

"Preliminary results from the mobile monitoring showed particulate matter was generally near background levels, however, elevated particulate matter concentrations were observed for a few seconds at a time within the plume," said South Coast AQMD in an update. "During those few seconds, increased levels of bromine and chlorine were also observed."

Bromine and chlorine are typically found at trace levels during structural fires and the levels seen were "below short-term health-based exposure thresholds," the agency said.

Concentrations below that level aren't expected to cause harmful health effects, South Coast AQMD said.

South Coast AQMD also said no significant levels of toxic air metals were seen.

The agency said it will continue to review particulate matter data from its regional air monitors as well as local air quality sensor networks.