“Reckless and illegal”: Residents sue Prologis over warehouse fire

Nearly two years after a major fire ripped through a warehouse in Carson, leading to chemical runoff and weeks of devastating air pollution, a group of residents has filed a lawsuit against Prologis, alleging the industrial giant is liable for negligent storage of toxic materials.   

The suit was filed in L.A. County court late last month by a group of 11 residents, including three minors, who live in Carson, Torrance and Long Beach. Along with Prologis and an affiliated company called Liberty Property, which together own and operate the warehouse, the suit also names two cosmetics companies that were tenants at the site, as well as Los Angeles County and the City of Carson. 

“On Sept. 30, 2021, the unsuspecting residents of Carson, California, and the surrounding communities were thrust into a crisis that should never have occurred,” the suit states. “That afternoon, at [Prologis’] Carson warehouse, an industrial fire began as a result of the corporate defendants’ reckless and illegal handling and storage of chemical-based products, including large vats of ethanol.” 

The latest suit comes a year after state regulators announced that Prologis and the cosmetics companies could face $17 million in penalties for violations related to the spill. 

At the time Prologis officials denied any wrongdoing and said they “vigorously dispute any suggestion by the Regional Board that Prologis and Liberty did not take appropriate actions as property owners” in the aftermath of the fire. In response to an inquiry about the latest lawsuit, a representative for Prologis provided the same statement. 

“Neither Prologis nor Liberty caused the fire,” the statement says. “Nevertheless, in the days following the fire … Prologis and Liberty stepped forward to remove the debris and prevent stormwater runoff. By the time the Regional Board issued its cleanup and abatement order 10 weeks later, we already had significant remedial actions well underway.” 

The company added that it was “committed to providing commercial space in a safe and responsible manner.” 

The September 2021 fire broke out at the Prologis South Bay Distribution Center, a 210,000-square-foot warehouse on Avalon Boulevard in Carson that stored beauty and wellness products. The fire was severe, requiring area businesses to evacuate, and took three days for crews to extinguish. 

But it soon became more notable for its after effects, when a massive amount of chemicals from hand sanitizer and other products stored at the warehouse seeped through the sewer system into the Dominguez Channel, a nearby flood control channel. 

The chemicals then killed vegetation in the channel, triggering an enormous release of hydrogen sulfide that lingered in the air for weeks and sickened area residents, including the plaintiffs, who allege they suffered from headaches, nausea, anxiety, fatigue and other symptoms. After the fire more than 3,000 families, including some of the plaintiffs, also had to temporarily relocate, the lawsuit notes.

The lawsuit claims the warehouse tenants, in a rush to get their products to market, operated recklessly and failed to properly store dangerous materials, including a million pounds of alcohol-based hand sanitizer and bacterial wipes. 

“Specifically, the products were stacked roughly 10 feet high, closely together, and in tremendous numbers, such that when emergency-response personnel arrived on scene to combat the fire … flames were already raging out of control,” the suit says. 

Before the fire broke out, Prologis and Liberty had recently permitted the tenants to store the products, the suit notes. 

The plaintiffs are seeking both statutory and punitive damages, as well as an order for Prologis and the other corporations “to repair and restore the relevant air quality and environmental balance in the affected communities.” 

In early 2022 L.A. County also sued Prologis, Liberty and the tenants over the contamination. In the months before the fire, authorities had issued multiple violations over the product storage. Prologis and the tenants knew of those violations and the fire risk they posed, the suit alleges, but did nothing to make things better. The county was seeking millions of dollars to help pay for the clean-up effort. 

Earlier this year L.A. County’s transit authority hit Prologis with a different lawsuit over contamination at a site near Downtown L.A. 

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