East Los Angeles has been blanketed by thick smoke following a large warehouse fire in Boyle Heights on Wednesday, June 17. Due to worsening air quality, California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass have declared a state of emergency, and several Los Angeles schools have temporarily relocated to protect students’ health. While the city struggles to keep the situation under control, community members are stepping up to care for one another during the crisis, distributing resources to those affected by the toxic fumes. In an interview with the Boyle Heights Beat, Mark Lopez of Eastyard Communities for Environmental Justice said communities are being kept in the dark about how bad the pollution is: “If this was a totally different community, a wealthier community, a whiter community, they would be communicating with us much differently…” #LosAngeles #BoyleHeights #BoyleHeightsFire #AirPollution #HLOG