Lineage and Fire Chief Said There Was No Ammonia Leak. Real-Time Logs Tell a Different Story.

Residents demanded accountability for the health effects of the Lineage fire and the government’s response at a July 9 town hall meeting in Boyle Heights. Photo by Barbara Davidson for Capital & Main.

The giant warehouse that burned for eight days in mid-June in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles had used thousands of pounds of anhydrous ammonia to cool the facility.

Anhydrous ammonia is a common refrigerant used in cold storage warehouses. But it is also toxic, and if it leaks, it can cause respiratory irritation; in large doses, it can lead to lung and eye damage and even death. In 2020, a contractor at a Lineage Inc. facility in Statesville, North Carolina, was killed and others were injured during an ammonia release.