diff --git a/db/column_family.h b/db/column_family.h
index f89fc10d1..ad0ec536b 100644
--- a/db/column_family.h
+++ b/db/column_family.h
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ class ColumnFamilyData {
   // recovered from
   uint64_t log_number_;
 
-  FlushReason flush_reason_;
+  std::atomic<FlushReason> flush_reason_;
 
   // An object that keeps all the compaction stats
   // and picks the next compaction