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LAUSD superintendent Andr\u00e9s Chait said in July that Boyle Heights summer school participation dropped after the relocation of four programs<\/a> in response to the fire. The district declined to provide enrollment and attendance figures for the programs and instead instructed LAist to file a public records request for the information.<\/p>\n Marcela Chagoya is a special education history teacher at \u200aStevenson College and Career Prep, a middle school within a mile of the fire. She said some of her students relocated to temporary housing or moved in with extended family to escape the stench.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI always get excited every single year to see how much [students] grew over the summer,\u201d Chagoya said. \u201cBut my concern really this time around is, are all my kiddos gonna come back?\u201d<\/p>\n Some families LAist spoke with said they are ready to send their children back to school.<\/p>\n Ivett Dominguez\u2019s son Diego will start second grade at Eastman next week after a summer spent inside watching TV and playing video games instead of going to baseball practice, swimming and playing at the park.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m confident that it\u2019ll be a good year for them, even if they\u2019re not outside on the playground,\u201d Dominguez said in Spanish.<\/p>\n [\u201c\u200aConf\u00edo que a lo mejor va a ser un buen a\u00f1o para ellos aunque no est\u00e9n afuera del patio.\u201d]<\/p>\n She said she feels like the school is safe, in part because of the new air purifiers.<\/p>\n But others, including Noah\u2019s grandmother Brenda Wenger, said they haven\u2019t decided whether to send children to class on the first day. Wenger said she attended one of the district\u2019s recent webinars about the clean-up, but wants to see the campus for herself.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI’m gonna take my Clorox wipeys and I’m gonna look and see if it’s been cleaned up or not,\u201d Wenger said.<\/p>\n \u2018Mom, we\u2019re going to die\u2019<\/p>\n The fire began on June 17<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dominguez, who lives about five blocks away, said when the air was thick with smoke her son Diego told her, \u201cMa, we\u2019re going to burn. Ma, we\u2019re going to die. We have to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n [\u201c\u200aMa, nos vamos a quemar. Ma, nos vamos a morir. Tenemos que irnos.\u201d]<\/p>\n Dominguez said she reassured him that the firefighters would get the blaze under control. The L.A. Fire Department declared the fire “knocked down” a week later on June 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ivette Dominguez and her son Diego live about five blocks from the Lineage warehouse. Dominguez said constantly running an air purifier has contributed to an electric bill that’s more than tripled to about $170 per month. <\/p>\n The warehouse stored approximately 88 million pounds of food. What didn\u2019t burn decayed in the summer heat and attracted hordes of flies and rodents to the area<\/a>. Lineage, the company that owns the warehouse, said it has removed about 63% of the food waste as of Aug. 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) has received more than 3,900 complaints about rotting meat and other food odors associated with the clean-up since July 12 and has cited the company 22 times for violating public nuisance rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n How to report odors, vermin<\/p>\n There are three ways to file an air quality-related complaint with South Coast AQMD:<\/p>\n Find more in LAist\u2019s guide to foul odors and other air-quality complaints<\/a>.<\/p>\n To report rats, flies and other pests to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, you can call (888) 700-9995 or file a complaint online at Ph.lacounty.gov\/EH-Complaint<\/a>.<\/p>\n Myrna Silva and her two children live one block from the warehouse. She said her daughter, who will soon start middle school, didn\u2019t attend summer school or play in the park after the fire. Even walking their dog, nicknamed Don Goyo, has become challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as they go out \u2026 they come running back in, because of the smell, because of the mosquitoes, because of the flies,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n [\u201c\u200aApenas salen \u2026 entran corriendo, porque el aroma, porque los zancudos, porque las moscas.\u201d]<\/p>\n In recent days, the family has experienced stomach pains and diarrhea. Silva said she\u2019s also concerned about how staying inside all summer has impacted her children\u2019s mental health. <\/p>\n \u201cOur kids will go to school frustrated,\u201d Silva said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to go into school stressed out. And what worries me is the reaction that all the children are going to have together. Some will adapt. Others won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n [\u201c\u200aNuestros hijos van frustrados a la escuela. Aan a entrar estresados a la escuela. Y lo preocupante es la reacci\u00f3n que van a tener todos los ni\u00f1os en conjunto. Algunos se van a acoplar. Otros no.\u201d]<\/p>\n Silva said she\u2019s more confident sending her son to Garfield High School because it\u2019s farther from the site of the fire. But she worried about sending her daughter to Stevenson, which is within the 1-mile radius.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope the district makes the best decisions so the kids are OK,\u201d Silva said. \u201cBut I\u2019m very worried about how a lot of children are going to react, because they\u2019re under so much stress right now.\u201d<\/p>\n [\u201cOjal\u00e1 el distrito tome las mejores decisiones para que los ni\u00f1os est\u00e9n bien. Pero me preocupa bastante el c\u00f3mo van a reaccionar muchos ni\u00f1os, porque traen mucho estr\u00e9s ahorita.\u201d]<\/p>\n How is LAUSD cleaning and testing Boyle Heights schools?\u00a0<\/p>\n LAUSD classes start two days before L.A. Mayor Karen Bass\u2019s deadline for Lineage to clean up the remaining food waste<\/a>.<\/p>\n District leaders said in a July 29 webinar that their goal is for students to return to a school day that is \u201cas normal as possible.\u201d There will be at least two more webinars with information about schools near the warehouse before the first day of classes.<\/p>\n The district also has a family hotline at 213-443-1300.<\/p>\n \u201cTo date, no local, state, or federal agencies have issued specific guidelines or mandates directing the District’s response to the Lineage fire,\u201d a district spokesperson wrote in a statement to LAist in response to questions about campus cleaning and testing.<\/p>\n Instead, the district reviewed environmental monitoring data, consulted with UCLA and USC environmental health researchers and reflected on past post-fire practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n The district\u2019s response to the Lineage fire has included:<\/p>\n Carlos Torres, who leads the district\u2019s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, said the district monitored air quality during and after the fire and facilitated the South Coast Air Quality Management District\u2019s installation of additional air-monitoring equipment at Eastman Elementary and Stevenson Middle Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have enough information to show that our schools are safe,\u201d Torres said. Additional testing is ongoing and results will be posted on the district\u2019s website<\/a> before school starts, Torres said. The district has said laboratory results from air and surface samples will be published online in early August. Those results had not been posted as of Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n Several people, including members of the teacher\u2019s union and area Board Member Roc\u00edo Rivas, have called on the district to also conduct soil testing.<\/p>\n Boyle Heights is one of several East and Southeast L.A. communities<\/a> with persistently high levels of lead<\/a> linked to the former Exide battery recycling facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n A district spokesperson wrote in a statement to LAist that the district has conducted \u201cextensive dust wipe samples.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSoil sampling is a more general type of sampling, whereas dust wipe sampling enables us to detect the presence of toxins that may be present following an industrial fire,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether the dust wipe results are available for public review.<\/p>\n Gilberto Martinez, executive director of region operations, said principals will have the discretion to bring students inside during recess and mealtimes if foul odors arise.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI’m feeling kind of scared and nervous because… what if we’re not going to be able to play outside,\u201d said Aiden, Noah\u2019s brother and fellow student at Eastman Elementary. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to be trapped inside just learning?\u201d<\/p>\n Myrna Silva and her daughter Getzetmany stand in front of InnerCity Struggle, a local nonprofit that’s provided resources, including air purifiers, to residents living nearby the warehouse fire site. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785849019_765_.jpeg\")
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