Knock LA

On Tuesday September 29, Boyle Heights and East LA residents held a press conference outside of the Lineage Logistics facility to demand answers after a Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) investigation claimed it could not identify the cause of the fire. In the more than 100 days since the fire ignited on June 17, residents nearby the Lineage facility have suffered from the resulting ash and chemical smoke, followed by the stench of 89 million pounds of rotting meat within the facility which attracted hoards of pests. 

“Due to the complexity of the solar panel system, its associated electrical equipment, and the maintenance activities being performed at the time of the fire, I am not able to eliminate them as the potential cause of the fire,” the LAFD report stated. “The cause of this fire will be listed as Undetermined.”

The Lineage Facility is located directly next to a residential area, with just the width of a street separating homes from the cold-storage facility. During Tuesday’s press conference, residents living near the facility along with organizers from Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización (Eastside Parents Against Privatization) and Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) demanded a better response from the city. To them, the Lineage Fire represents another instance of non-white residents paying the price of environmental racism and negligence. 

“We should not have to fight this hard simply to have our communities taken seriously,” said Maria, a member of Eastside Padres and a retired educator. “We are here because our communities deserve better. We are here because our children deserve better. We are here because after a disaster of this magnitude, ‘undetermined’ cannot be the end of the conversation. We demand answers.” 

There was something else about the report that Boyle Heights residents were quick to point out: LAFD used AI to write it. 

“At the very bottom of the report, it says that it was generated using artificial intelligence,” a representative from Eastside Padres said during the press conference. 

On page 14 of the Los Palos LAFD report, under the heading “Artificial Intelligence Assistance Disclosure,” the document states, “This report may contain content generated or assisted by Artificial Intelligence. AI-generated content may not always be accurate or complete. Use professional judgment and verify as appropriate.” 

On page 13 of the report, it states that “the data contained in this investigation is true and accurate based on the information available at the time it was written.” However, this is in direct contradiction to the disclosure that immediately follows. Knowing that LAFD utilized AI to craft the report begs the question of how much information within the document could be incorrect, and furthermore, did the department think so little of this investigation that it was willing to publish potentially inaccurate content as a result? As residents push for accountability, one cannot help but wonder if this is truly the best that LAFD can do or if they did not care enough to ensure their public assessment was truthful. 

An AI-generated report from a City department is the latest in a series of insults added to injury for the people who live next to the burn site. The Lineage Fire aftermath has been rife with responses from elected officials that residents consider to be incomplete and disingenuous. In a June 24 press conference, Mayor Karen Bass stated, “The air is not dangerous,” and that there had only been calls for voluntary evacuation as the city felt the fire did not necessitate a mandatory evacuation. On July 9, she walked back this statement during a town hall meeting, saying that “all smoke under all circumstances is harmful.”

Maria mentioned that she used to teach at Eastman Ave Elementary school, which is just seven blocks away from the Lineage facility. School is now back in session, with young children spending hours per day just half a mile from the fire site. 

As time ticks on, the various parties connected to the disaster are at odds over who is responsible for the June 17 fire. Lineage filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Altus Power, the company that operates and manufactures the solar panels on the facility’s roof. The suit claims that solar panels were the cause of the blaze and names Altus responsible for the ensuing damage, an assertion that Altus vehemently denies. Earlier this summer, Lineage also missed the 45-day deadline imposed by the City to clean up the rotting meat within the burned building. Lineage claimed at the time that the City had the wrong date and they had a week left to continue the facility’s cleanup, though this was not the case. 

One of the long-term effects of the fire is the impact on residents’ health. ABC news reported that in the 100 days following the blaze, doctors at AltaMed in Boyle Heights reported a 28 percent rise in gastrointestinal issues, a nearly 20 percent jump in respiratory diagnoses, and a 24 percent increase in eye and upper airway irritation compared to the same time the year before.  

While Lineage performs legal and logistical gymnastics, Boyle Heights and East LA residents are not letting up in their pursuit of justice. During Tuesday’s press conference, Maria from Eastside Padres called on the Los Angeles District Attorney to investigate whether criminal violations occurred at the Lineage facility.  

“We are not asking anyone to prejudge the outcome,” Maria said. “We are asking for the facts to be examined.”

Marissa Roy, Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice and candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney, also spoke in support of Boyle Heights residents during the press conference. Roy promised that if elected, she would open an investigation into the Lineage Fire on her first day in office and would file a lawsuit against any responsible corporations should the facts support it.

“It is absolutely unconscionable that so many families whose lives have been upended are still left without answers,” Roy said. “The City Attorney should have announced an investigation months ago. Instead residents have been left to fend for themselves. These families don’t know what is in their air. They don’t know what is in their soil.”

Residents and allies made clear during Tuesday’s press conference that they would not accept the result of ‘undetermined’ from the AI-generated LAFD report. They vowed to continue organizing and advocating for accountability on behalf of their families, their children, and their communities. 

“An undetermined cause does not mean there are no questions left to answer,” Maria said. “There are still serious questions about what happened before the fire, what happened during the fire, and what happened afterwards. Those questions deserve answers.”

Rosalind Jones (she/they) is a queer, Los Angeles-based writer and community organizer. She is a contributor for Knock LA, a founding member of the social justice organization Community Solidarity Project, and authors a Substack titled ‘Another World is Inevitable’. Rosalind holds a BA in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College and a certification in Creative Writing from the UCLA Extension.