Newsom declares state of emergency for LA as warehouse fire keeps sending smoke over Boyle Heights

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles on Saturday, June 21, as firefighters continued working to extinguish a stubborn warehouse fire in Boyle Heights that has kept sending smoke into nearby neighborhoods.

The move expands the response to a blaze that began on Wednesday, June 17, at a cold-storage warehouse in east Los Angeles. Officials have said the fire has created overlapping problems: lingering smoke, hazardous air, an ammonia concern and the challenge of dealing with a huge volume of spoiled frozen food inside the building.

Why Newsom stepped in

Newsom said the state will provide additional assistance and resources to local agencies working on the fire and its aftermath. In his statement, he said state officials would bring in specialized expertise and pre-positioned supplies.

He also said California had made more than 5 million N95 respirator masks available, along with air purifiers and bottled water for residents affected by the smoke.

The governor's declaration adds another layer to a response that had already been expanded at the city level. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency before Newsom's action, saying the city and county had opened spaces for families seeking relief from smoke.

A difficult fire scene

The fire has been unusually hard to fight because of conditions inside and around the building. Officials described the warehouse as about 500,000 square feet, and firefighters have had to attack parts of the blaze from a safer distance because of poor visibility and dangerous conditions.

During the response, an ammonia line ruptured, adding toxic-fume concerns to the scene.

Los Angeles residents were previously told to shelter in place because of hazardous air, and smoke has continued to affect nearby neighborhoods even as crews work to fully extinguish the fire.

LAFD Chief Jaime Moore said firefighters had largely dealt with the hazardous materials phase and were now facing biohazard challenges tied to the food stored inside the facility. He said the warehouse contains about 85 million pounds of frozen food.

What happens next

The next major task is getting the fire out completely and then removing and safely disposing of the spoiled inventory inside the warehouse.

State and local officials are expected to keep coordinating on air-quality monitoring, smoke impacts and recovery support for residents nearby. The emergency declaration is meant to help speed that response as the fire continues to pose public-health and cleanup concerns.

Boyle Heights, an east Los Angeles neighborhood near downtown, has now been dealing with the fire for days. What began as a warehouse blaze has become a broader emergency involving air quality, public-health precautions and a large-scale disposal problem once the scene is secured.