LA warehouse fire continues to burn as officials warn residents of air quality issues
No mandatory evacuation orders have been issued as of Tuesday.
Firefighters continue to battle a massive blaze at a Los Angeles warehouse that has been burning for nearly a week, which has spread heavy smoke for miles.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire at the Boyle Heights Storage Facility, which stores frozen food, is still ongoing, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Due to the facility's architecture and cold storage shelving, crews have to battle the blaze from the outside as they cannot ventilate the insulated roof, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore told reporters Monday.
"The entire roof has been compromised, and it is sitting on top of those 65-foot towers," he said. "Imagine going to Costco, or any other large convenience store, [like] Home Depot, any of those that have the large racks. Imagine the ceiling sitting down on top of those racks. It's extremely dangerous, and I don't foresee ever putting our firefighters in that type of danger."
The fire at the facility, which Moore said contains about 85 million pounds of frozen food, began June 17, and a shelter-in-place order was temporarily in place.
Lineage Logistics, which operates the warehouse, said in a statement Monday that the fire began "while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the solar array located on the facility's roof."
Lineage said that no hazardous materials are stored in the facility and that it pumped out the ammonia inside and transported it.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday, and additional resources were sent to assist, including specialized aircraft with high-capacity water cannons.
While the fire has not spread to other buildings, residents and businesses near the area have been feeling the effects from miles away.
Heavy smoke from the blaze raised the Air Quality Index to unhealthy levels in East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and the San Gabriel Valley since last Wednesday, officials said.
In Boyle Heights, the air quality was at "very unhealthy" levels Sunday evening with an AQI of 298, prompting warnings for people to stay indoors, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory, according to federal air regulators.
By Monday morning, many of the affected neighborhoods saw lower levels, with Boyle Heights recording an AQI of 79, but they were still high enough to affect some residents with respiratory issues, according to officials.
Although a shelter-in-place order was not issued, LA Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials offered over 1,000 air purifiers and face masks to residents who needed them.
Lines for those purifiers stretched outside locations on Monday.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District's Particle Pollution Advisory remained until Tuesday afternoon.
-ABC News' Jenna Harrison and Matthew Claiborne contributed to this report.
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