Six days into a firefight at a massive frozen-food storage facility near downtown Los Angeles, firefighters have yet to enter the building and have begun moving parts of the exterior walls to try to gain access.

Smoke is billowing from the warehouse, which is roughly 500,000-square-foot (46,451-square-meter), covered in solar panels and insulated like a freezer. It’s located across the street from homes in Boyle Heights, a working-class neighborhood east of downtown, and city officials on Monday warned people to stay inside or wear masks due to smoke pollution.

A large warehouse fire can typically be put out in a day, but in a cold storage facility, it can take weeks, authorities said. The fire sparked Wednesday.

Here’s what to know:

Why is it taking so long to put it out?

Fires in cold storage facilities often burn for weeks because their heavily insulated ceilings, roofs and walls make them difficult to extinguish, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Jamie Stewart said.

Firefighters have not been able to enter the building due to the danger posed by floor-to-ceiling heavy-duty steel rack shelving, he said. They also have been unable to quickly ventilate the roof due to the insulation, which is what they would typically do to release gas and smoke and gain visibility inside a warehouse, he said.

The warehouse has rows that are 65-feet (20 meters) tall and 650-feet (200 meters) long loaded with pallets and boxes filled with frozen food, similar to the interior of a Costco or Home Depot warehouse store, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said during Monday’s news conference. There were about 85 million pounds (38.6 million kilograms) of frozen food stored inside, he said.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever get firefighters inside because the entire roof has been compromised and it is sitting on top of (those) 65-foot towers,” Moore said. “It’s extremely dangerous, and I don’t foresee ever putting our firefighters in that type of danger.”

Firefighters have been stripping away exterior walls on certain sides of the building and dousing it with heavy streams of water.

What caused the fire?

Michigan-based company Lineage Logistics, which operates the facility, said in a statement it believes the fire began when subcontractors were working on solar panels on the roof. But the official cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, the company said.

Lineage is working with fire officials investigating the blaze, the statement said.

Moore said the fire department continues to investigate but that preliminary information shows Lineage, which rents the warehouse, was leasing the roof to a solar company that what was working on the panels when the fired started.

“They attempted to try to extinguish it. They dialed 911, and it was off to the races,” he said.

What is stored at the facility?

The facility, called Big Bear, stores products such as seafood, pork, beef and poultry before they’re shipped to grocery stores and restaurants on the U.S. West Coast, Lineage said on its website.

A message sent to Lineage seeking details about the food and the companies affected by it was not immediately returned.

What are the air quality concerns?

The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a warning about poor air quality in the area until Tuesday afternoon, saying the blaze continues to produce smoke impacting the neighborhood and areas north and east of the fire. The smoke is carrying microscopic particles known as PM2.5 that can penetrate deep into the lungs.

Light winds will also push the smoke in all directions, potentially impacting other parts of metropolitan LA, the district said.

Residents in the most impacted area were told to avoid vigorous physical activity and close all windows, doors and vents, turn off air conditioning and bring people and pets to an inside room because of the risk of hazardous air. Those who need to go outside in the smoky conditions should wear an N95 or P100 mask, health officials said.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, said residents want to know what materials and chemicals were in the warehouse, what burned and what is still burning. She said air quality results should include that information and be released in English and Spanish in terms that regular people can understand.

Jurado said families, workers and other residents are “seeing the smoke and smelling the odors and finding ash and debris near their homes and businesses.”

“We still do not have enough clear information about what burned and what may still be burning,” she said.

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WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. — Washington County, Tennessee commissioners held a special-called work session Monday night, focused on a possible tax freeze program for seniors.

The hourlong session featured a presentation from Ken Morrell, projects manager at the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office.

If Washington County signs on to the tax freeze program, people age 65 and up with an income under $45,100 could apply. The freeze would only apply to a home and up to five acres, not a business or farm on the same land.

Morrell gave the example, “I’ve got my principal residence and I’ve got an auto repair shop on the same property. It’s the part that goes with the principal residence.”

READ MORE | Tennessee Comptroller’s Office Tax Freeze Program

Twenty-seven counties and 36 cities in Tennessee are already part of the program.

Tax payments would only go up if the owner makes improvements to their home. Tax rate hikes and reassessments would have no impact.

The downside, Morrell said, is everyone else could end up paying more.

“You can obviously see a scenario where you have to add a little bit more to the rate to make up the difference the tax freeze people are not paying,” he said.

Mayor Joe Grandy said after the meeting, it was more complicated than he expected, but he believes it’s doable.

“I think people are saying, ‘Look, if these taxes go up much more, I may lose my home.’ So I think it’s really important for those folks in Washington County to be protected,” Grandy said.

However, there was no vote at the workshop, and commission chair Greg Matherly said any proposal would need to start in a committee.

That leaves some residents questioning whether commissioners are serious about taking action.

“I think it’s because the election is coming up in August and people are watching what’s being done in the county offices, and they want some help. It’s one thing to say it, but it’s another thing to do it,” resident Karen Nelson said.

WCYB

A federal judge in Texas blocked a Biden administration rule on Monday that allowed immigration judges to indefinitely close a deportation case against immigrants on the same day Texas sued to stop the rule.

The rule, which was adopted in 2024, allowed immigration judges to close a deportation case after hearing arguments from the federal government and the immigrant in deportation proceedings, especially if the person could qualify for a benefit that allows them to stay in the country legally.

But on Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas in Wichita Falls to block the rule with U.S. Judge Reed O’Connor, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice was also co-filed by America First Legal Foundation, an organization founded by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Trump who has focused on ways to limit both legal and illegal immigration to the country. America First Legal Foundation also previously filed various lawsuits representing Paxton against the Biden administration’s immigration policies, which helped derail President Biden’s immigration agenda in his lone term.

In this latest complaint, Paxton’s office said in the 43-page lawsuit that the Biden-era rule “effectively grant(s) indefinite amnesty to aliens illegally present in this country.”

Lawsuits usually take several months to years to settle, but in this case O’Connor ruled late on Monday in favor of Texas after the Department of Justice filed its response saying it agreed with Paxton’s office.

Paxton’s office and the DOJ did not respond to immediate requests for comment.

President Trump, in keeping with his campaign promise, has cracked down on immigrants, using many of the federal government’s resources to limit immigration and fast-track deportations, including undocumented people and others who were allowed to be in the U.S. by previous administrations.

O’Connor has been known as conservative leaders’ favorite judge because he has routinely ruled in favor of Paxton, who has strategically filed lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administration.

The fast-paced end to the rule echoes a similar maneuver conducted by the DOJ and Paxton’s office last year, when the federal agency sued Texas over a law allowing undocumented students to qualify for lower tuition rates at public universities. Hours after the suit was filed, Texas also asked Judge O’Connor to find the law unconstitutional, which he did.

After the law was overturned, legal experts said a state working with the federal government so closely for the swift overturning of a state law was unusual and raised questions about collusion.

The quick resolution to the case late on Monday was heavily criticized by immigration law experts.

“This is madness! Deliberate collusion with a federal judge to rapidly erase regulations without any input from affected parties,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with American Immigration Council, a group in Washington, D.C., that advocates for immigrants. “It’s clearly an unlawful act by all, and now litigants will have to seek to intervene in the already-completed lawsuit to overturn his actions.”