The massive warehouse fire that has been burning for more than six days and causing health hazards for much of Los Angeles is believed to have been started during servicing of the solar photovoltaic farm on the facility’s roof, which sells power to the city’s grid.
“We believe the fire started on the roof when the owner of the solar array, Altus Power, was doing tests,” warehouse operator Lineage Logistics said in a June 23 update.
The company noted that an official cause won’t be determined until investigations conclude after the fire is put out.
The 479,152-square-foot split-level roof is covered in 5.5 megawatts of solar arrays and is visible from satellite imagery.
Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Captain Jacob Raabe told CBS LA Tuesday morning that he expects the fire to be put out “very shortly” after crews made “significant progress” on the fire.
“We are very confident in the LAFD,” he said. “We are going on day seven now, and we have a limited amount of smoke left from the remaining hot spots, and we hope to get all the remaining fire put out, stop the smoke, and get everyone returning to normal.”
He told reporters during a news conference Saturday afternoon that the “giant cooler” of a warehouse, with its corrugated steel walls filled with foam insulation, made firefighting a challenge, as pockets of the fire were still inaccessible to firefighters. However, they have managed to save the second half of the facility.
Millions of pounds of frozen or temperature-controlled food and goods were being stored in the building, which was built in 2018. The facility connects food products to approximately 10 million people, Lineage said.
The company said it is a tenant at the warehouse and that it leases the roof of the building to third-party solar company Altus Power, which is “responsible for operating and maintaining the array.”
It said the solar subcontractor doing the work when the fire started was Pearce, a technical services provider for digital and power infrastructure and subsidiary of real estate and investment firm CBRE.
Investigations and efforts to extinguish the fire, which started around 2:30 p.m. on June 17, are ongoing.
“We are working closely with local officials to assist in all investigations and remediations of the fire and will continue to do so as we cleanup once the site is safe for entry,” the company said.
LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia said on June 23 in a post on X that the Boyle Heights fire has cost LA taxpayers $3 million so far, “just for LAFD costs from June 17-21.”
The solar array at the same facility also caught on fire in August 2024, but LAFD was able to contain that blaze before it spread to damage the building.
In that blaze, firefighters “quickly deployed hand lines to the top of the massive structure and saved the building,” the fire department said at the time. It took them 48 minutes to extinguish the fire.
“Without the aggressive and timely actions of the crews on scene, the fire could have continued to jump from solar array to solar array and potentially extend to the interior of the building, with devastating results for the business,” the LAFD added.
The cause of that fire was also listed as “under investigation” at the time, and no final determination was released to the public.
Mejia said his office is now asking, “What came out of that past fire?”
“Our Office is calling for full transparency & accountability. As the City’s Accountant & Auditor, we are tracking costs and city efforts,” he said.
Lineage said it is doing what it can to support the local community impacted by the blaze.
“We’re providing air purifiers and masks to the community, and we are going to keep that going as long as they are needed. We also brought in food trucks to provide almost 1,000 meals to residents of Boyle Heights and firefighters,” it said.
“In addition, we have donated $2 million dollars to the California Community Impact Fund that is being used to deliver immediate support to Boyle Heights residents.”
Mejia said on X that the current response has not been enough and that “the residents of Boyle Heights, East LA, & the surrounding communities deserve more. We need all companies involved to take accountability and help impacted residents immediately.”
Lineage has urged Altus Power to join in the response efforts, saying that while it remains “committed to doing everything we can to help firefighters and the community, we want to be clear that this fire was not caused by our operations or our team.”
“As we step up for the community, we are also urging Altus to join us getting the Boyle Heights community the support they desperately need,” it said.
Parts of LA County remain under advisories for particle pollution until at least 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Residents in impacted areas with sensitivity to air pollution are recommended to consider avoiding going outdoors and wearing an N95 mask.
No hazardous materials have been detected from the fire.
The Epoch Times has contacted Altus and Pearce for comment.
