Fire in abandoned church near downtown LA

Firefighters were working Thursday morning to extinguish a fire in an abandoned church building in the University Park area near downtown Los Angeles.

The fire was reported about 6:25 a.m. in the two-story building in the 700 block of West Washington Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The firefighters went into a defensive mode -- fighting the fire from the exterior -- in an effort to prevent the flames from spreading to other structures.