Depression rose 36% among patients after Lineage fire, report finds

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Depression increased 36% and anxiety increased 22% among patients seen at AltaMed after the Lineage warehouse fire, according to a new report released Thursday.  

The report, released nearly 100 days after the Lineage fire broke out, compares the patients treated within a 5-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse since June 17 with patients treated in the same period in 2025. The clinic estimates about 40,000 patients were seen during that period. 

The numbers also revealed a 27.8% increase in gastrointestinal concerns, a 24.2% increase in eye and throat irritation and a 19.9% increase in respiratory diagnoses within the same timeframe. 

“On their own, the data do not establish that the fire caused each of these increases, but they definitely help us identify trends,” said Dr. David Escobar, regional medical director for AltaMed, at a press conference Thursday at Lou Costello Recreation Center. 

“Patients were coming to me frequently with headache, throat irritation, eye irritation, and traumatic stress,” Escobar said. 

A majority of patients who were evaluated for behavioral health issues were treated through talk therapy and trauma therapy, Escobar said. 

Chronic stress and depression have disrupted Elizabeth Lopez’s daily life in the months after the fire. Lopez lives in the Estrada Courts housing complex and said she experienced the smoke, smell and physical symptoms after the fire, including eye irritation and ongoing asthma attacks. 

The inability to leave her home during heat waves over the summer and having to endure the horrible smell left her feeling defeated and with no motivation, Lopez said. Her doctor prescribed her antidepressants. 

“I’ve never been on depression [medication],” Lopez said. “I didn’t have that energy that I used to have. I had always been a very active person…and I just wasn’t.” 

Lopez is a health promoter for AltaMed and said she referred her neighbors to AltaMed mobile health clinics to get treated for similar symptoms. 

Since June 23, AltaMed has deployed its mobile health unit at Lou Costello Recreation Center, Pecan Recreation Center, and the Robert Louis Stevenson Branch Library, providing clinical evaluations, respiratory care, medication access, and connections to social support to help residents navigate recovery.

Escobar emphasized that the needs of the patients he cared for in Boyle Heights did not end when the fire was knocked down on June 24. 

“Even when the fire was out, patients were still coming to me in my clinic personally with ongoing new or recurring symptoms…which tells me clinically there’s still exposure happening of some kind or another,” Escobar said. “What concerns me the most as a physician clinically is that I still do not know exactly what my patients were exposed to.”

Escobar told Boyle Heights Beat that the vast majority of AltaMed patients in Boyle Heights and East L.A. have Medi-Cal and Medicare. The health provider also serves residents without insurance and offers sliding scale fees. 

In August, a St. John’s Community Health report also revealed the physical and mental toll that the fire had on patients seen at its mobile clinics. Of the 1,306 patients seen between June 17 and July 31, 36% had serious health problems attributed to smoke and toxic chemical exposure, including acute upper respiratory infections, eye disorders and asthma exacerbation. Dozens of patients were prescribed anxiety and/or sleep medication to treat acute stress after the fire.