diff --git a/src/logging.c b/src/logging.c
index 79b26309..5fe83ea3 100644
--- a/src/logging.c
+++ b/src/logging.c
@@ -296,9 +296,9 @@ rcutils_ret_t rcutils_logging_initialize_with_allocator(rcutils_allocator_t allo
 
     // We load the logging configs after setting g_rcutils_logging_initialized
     // to true otherwise rcutils_logging_set_logger_level will cause recursive
-    // call to this function due to RCUTILS_LOGGING_AUTOINIT Check for the
+    // call to this function due to RCUTILS_LOGGING_AUTOINIT
     // Check for the environment variable for selecting logging level
-    const char * logging_config_filename;
+    const char * logging_config_filename = NULL;
     ret_str = rcutils_get_env("RCUTILS_LOGGING_CONFIG_FILE", &logging_config_filename);
     if (NULL == ret_str && strcmp(logging_config_filename, "") != 0) {
       FILE * logging_config_file = fopen(logging_config_filename, "r");
@@ -308,24 +308,45 @@ rcutils_ret_t rcutils_logging_initialize_with_allocator(rcutils_allocator_t allo
           logging_config_filename);
         return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
       }
-      char logger_name[50];
-      char severity[10];   // fatal error debug info warn case insensitive
 
-      while (fscanf(
-          logging_config_file, "%49[^=]=%9[^\n]\n", logger_name,
-          severity) != EOF)
-      {
+      char logger_name[128];
+      char severity[10];   // fatal/error/debug/info/warn case-insensitive
+      char line[256];  // lines could have comments
+      while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), logging_config_file)) {
+        // If a line start with # ignore it since it's a comment
+        if (line[0] == '#') {
+          continue;
+        }
+        if (sscanf(
+            line, "%127[^=]=%9[^\t\n ]\n", logger_name,
+            severity) != 2)
+        {
+          RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG_WITH_FORMAT_STRING(
+            "Failed to parse line in logging config file [%s]: %s", logging_config_filename, line);
+          fclose(logging_config_file);
+          return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
+        }
         int severity_level;
         if (RCUTILS_RET_OK != rcutils_logging_severity_level_from_string(
             severity, g_rcutils_logging_allocator, &severity_level))
         {
-          RCUTILS_SAFE_FWRITE_TO_STDERR_WITH_FORMAT_STRING(
-            "Logger has an invalid severity level: %s\n", severity);
+          RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG_WITH_FORMAT_STRING(
+            "Logger has an invalid severity level: %s", severity);
+          fclose(logging_config_file);
           return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
         }
-        if (RCUTILS_RET_OK != rcutils_logging_set_logger_level(logger_name, severity_level)) {
-          RCUTILS_SAFE_FWRITE_TO_STDERR_WITH_FORMAT_STRING(
-            "Failed to set severity level: %s for logger '%s'\n", severity, logger_name);
+        // Special name for setting the default logger level
+        if (strcmp(logger_name, "default_logger_level") == 0) {
+          g_rcutils_logging_default_logger_level = severity_level;
+          // NOLINTNEXTLINE
+        } else if (
+          RCUTILS_RET_OK !=
+          rcutils_logging_set_logger_level(logger_name, severity_level))
+        {
+          RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG_WITH_FORMAT_STRING(
+            "Failed to set severity level: %s for logger '%s'", severity, logger_name);
+          fclose(logging_config_file);
+          return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
         }
       }