What was in the air after the Lineage fire? New lawsuits are demanding information

Describing an urgent need for the public to be informed about potential health risks, community and environmental advocacy groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Los Angeles in an effort to obtain data and other records about possible toxic emissions from the Lineage warehouse fire.

California Communities Against Toxics filed a suit Monday against the EPA seeking the United States District Court for the Central District of California to order the release of records they requested under the Freedom of Information Act. That advocacy group claims that large amounts of ammonia have been released from the Lineage facility since the fire destroyed its refrigeration system and argues that the EPA has failed its duty to release public records about it.

“The Facility’s ammonia and other emissions are presently contaminating the surrounding neighborhoods, creating severe health impacts including bloody noses, difficulty breathing, blurred vision, eye swelling, irritation, and running, upper respiratory irritation, persistent coughs pneumonia, skin rashes and irritation,” the group claims in a civil complaint.

The lawsuit comes after months of calls from residents and community advocacy groups for more transparency about the fire and the environmental testing that followed.

Jane Williams speaks to a group of residents at a teach-in with Protect LA Now at Resurrection Church on August 26, 2026

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Laura Anaya-Morga

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Boyle Heights Beat

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California Communities Against Toxics said it asked in August for various records related to the monitoring of the fire, including data on air pollution, smoke plume movement, occupational health monitoring data and the federal agency’s communications with officials from the city and other local departments.

They claim the federal agency has not adequately addressed their request, failed to conduct a thorough search and, ultimately, withheld records that should be released to the public.

The same advocacy group, along with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and Protect LA Now, filed a similar suit on Tuesday against the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Fire Department. They say records related to the fire department’s response to the fire and its subsequent investigation have also been withheld. They are seeking data collected on possible ammonia release from the facility and communications about the fire to the offices of the mayor and city council members.

They claim the city closed the records request about 24 hours after it was filed, saying there were no responsive records. 

“We have been routinely asking the agencies to divulge the results of the monitoring that was done by first responders…We need to see what happened,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, during a press conference over Zoom Tuesday.

Williams, whose organization has been monitoring chemical and environmental disasters since 1991, called the Lineage fire “the largest chemical disaster in the state of California’s history.”

What was most alarming about the Lineage fire, Williams said, is that evacuations were not ordered for residents. 

“That’s why now you see 40,000 people who sought medical care from the releases from Lineage,” Williams said, pointing to health data released by AltaMed that reported elevated levels of depression and anxiety as well as increases in eye and throat irritation, among other conditions, in residents who were exposed to the fire and its aftermath.  

Last week, another community group, Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización, called on the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to open a criminal investigation of the warehouse fire after the LAFD reported that the cause of the fire could not be determined.

In a surprise move, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s Criminal Investigations Bureau served a search warrant at the Lineage facility Tuesday. Police officers from the LA County DA’s office were also on site assisting with the criminal investigation.

Agents with the Department of Toxic Substances Control Criminal Investigations Bureau serve a search warrant at Lineage in Boyle Heights on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (Christopher Damien / The LA Local)

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Christopher Damien

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The LA Local

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Lineage released a statement soon after, repeating its stance that no ammonia had been released from its facility and that the company maintained records that it was safely transported off site when the fire broke out. Still, testing by Lineage as well as community scientists and the South Coast Air Quality Management District found elevated levels of ammonia near the warehouse after the fire, though they did not meet the threshold requiring action to protect public health. 

Tuesday’s raid is yet another rapid development among investigations that have so far remained hidden from the public. 

Last week, Mayor Karen Bass claimed that she asked the City Attorney’s Office to investigate Lineage months ago but was met with inaction. The city attorney’s team responded that the mayor had misspoken, and that they had opened an investigation of the fire in early July. Both statements were the first public admissions that such an investigation was requested and is ongoing.

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