85 million pounds of rotting food plagues LA neighbourhood nearly two months after warehouse fire

A fire that destroyed a cold-storage warehouse in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighbourhood on June 17 has left behind a public health crisis: 85 million pounds of rotting beef, pork, poultry and seafood, creating a stench so severe that residents say it makes them want to vomit.

The blaze was finally extinguished a week later on June 24, but nearly two months on, the cleanup remains incomplete. Lineage, the company operating the warehouse, reported that about 80% of the food waste had been removed as of Monday. However, city officials said this week that the company's response had "fallen short" and issued public health and safety violation notices. The city has given Lineage a deadline of August 13 to complete the post-fire cleanup.

The human toll

Local residents describe the odour as overwhelming. Mesha, a 37-year-old security guard stationed in the neighbourhood, told the BBC the smell is so intense she compares it to a dead body. Lisett Navarrete, a 34-year-old resident, said the stench is so bad that "you don't even want to have breakfast."

Small businesses have been hit hard. Alexis Sicairos, who runs a coffee stand on a street corner in Boyle Heights, shut down for two weeks after the fire. When he reopened, demand had collapsed. Warehouse workers who once lined up to buy coffee stopped coming, and other customers stayed away because of the smell, smoke and flies. "We have to keep paying our bills, so we're still here," Sicairos told the BBC.

Health hazards

A city-commissioned inspection report found that waste and high temperatures at the warehouse are creating ideal conditions for pest breeding. The report, prepared by a pest control company, warned specifically about green bottle flies, which can reproduce rapidly in rotting food and hot weather.

According to the report, green bottle flies can cause myiasis, an infectious disease in which the flies lay eggs in open wounds of humans or animals. The disease can cause irritation, ulcers, and in some cases death. Fly and rodent-control devices have been rolled out at the warehouse to combat the pest problem.

Lineage reported that the process to remove the food waste is around 85 percent complete.