Nearly one month after a fire destroyed a massive cold-storage facility in Boyle Heights, the neighborhood has been overcome by the stomach-churning stench of rotting food.
As facility operator Lineage works to remove more than 85 million tons of weeks-old food from its 500,000-square-feet warehouse, the rancid odors have attracted throngs of rats and swarms of flies, as a foul-smelling brownish liquid pours from the seams of the building.
Now, with a heat wave descending over much of Southern California, residents worry the odor could get even worse and scores of residents have called air quality regulators to complain. At the same time, environmental groups are accusing Lineage representatives and emergency responders of downplaying the risks pose by chemicals released during the fire…