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 as firefighters continued battling a large Boyle Heights warehouse fire that has kept sending smoke into nearby neighborhoods for days.

The declaration came while crews were still working Sunday to extinguish remaining hot spots and burning material inside the building, a cold-storage warehouse near downtown Los Angeles that reporting described as roughly 491,000 to 500,000 square feet. The fire had entered its fifth day by the time of the latest reports.

The incident began Wednesday, June 18, at a Lineage facility in Boyle Heights. Fire officials said the blaze started as a roof fire and was complicated early by an ammonia-line rupture and burning foam, adding to the public-health concerns around the scene.

State response

Newsom said state agencies would provide additional assistance and coordinate with local partners on recovery. The emergency declaration is meant to help speed resources to the area as officials deal with the fire itself, the smoke impacts and the cleanup still ahead.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had already declared a local emergency on Saturday, June 20, saying the move was needed to secure resources under the California Disaster Assistance Act. State and local officials have framed the declarations as a way to support firefighting, relief and recovery work around the warehouse.

The city and county opened smoke relief centers, and the state began distributing N95 masks, air purifiers, bottled water and other supplies. Reporting said California had made more than 5 million N95 respirator masks available.

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said the declaration mattered because residents had already endured days of smoke and disruption. The emergency order also signals that state officials see the incident as more than a routine warehouse fire, given the continuing air-quality concerns in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.

Fire and smoke

Officials said the fire had been confined to one side of the large building, but smoke was still drifting into nearby neighborhoods. Residents had earlier been told to shelter in place, though no evacuation or shelter-in-place order was in effect by Sunday.

The continuing smoke has turned the blaze into a prolonged public-health problem as well as an emergency response. Firefighters were still working through the remaining fire load inside the structure, and officials continued monitoring conditions around the warehouse and in surrounding neighborhoods.

Cleanup ahead

The cleanup is expected to be unusually difficult because AP reported the warehouse contains about 85 million pounds of frozen food. That creates a major biohazard and disposal challenge once the fire is fully out and crews can enter more aggressively.

Officials still have to remove spoiled material and address contamination risks from the damaged facility. The combination of frozen food, smoke damage, fire debris and the ammonia-line rupture has made the response more complex than a typical building fire.

What remains unresolved

The most immediate questions are when firefighters can fully extinguish the blaze, how quickly cleanup can begin and whether air-quality conditions will force any new advisories. Reporting said state and local agencies will continue coordinating relief support and recovery resources as the response moves forward.

For now, the fire remains an active incident, smoke remains an issue for nearby neighborhoods and officials are still dealing with the aftermath of a warehouse fire that has stretched across several days.