A disgusting infestation and smell has overtaken the area surrounding a frozen food warehouse that was gutted by a massive fire in Boyle Heights.
Not only are neighbors battling a growing fly infestation from tons of rotting meat and bread, a burst water main has added flooding to the environmental nightmare.
About a mile from Lineage Logistics’ 500,000-square-foot facility, the broken main left residents without water for hours Sunday. The warehouse—once stocked with 85 million pounds of frozen food—has become a decomposing health hazard, with residents reporting overwhelming odors, rats, and dead birds throughout the neighborhood.
While California Water Service said the damaged pipe near the cleanup site was unrelated to the fire, it has become yet another headache for the community, reported FOX 11. Trucks continue hauling out rotting food—including crab meat, beef, and pig feet—but residents say they’re still trapped in a neighborhood overwhelmed by the foul stench.
“I hope they don’t have infections or something like that…The smells, flies. Now I’m worried about that,” Martin Ramirez, who runs a business in the area, told the news outlet.
Neighbors are desperate a quick clean up.
The latest concern comes less than a week after Mayor Karen Bass told Boyle Heights residents that she “will fight” for them during an emotionally charged community meeting.
The community members shouted following weeks of an unbearable stench from the burned-out warehouse.
“I see this as an environmental injustice issue,” Mayor Bass had told hundreds of frustrated residents, who packed Stevenson Middle School, demanding answers about the clean up after the blaze.
Business owners along Olympic Boulevard said they are bleeding cash as the disgusting odor pushes customers away. Fed-up neighbors are accusing the Lineage Logistics and solar contractor Altus Power for stalling the demolition and cleanup with a barrage of legal red tape.
