West LA vacant commercial building burns down

An hourslong "stubborn" fire continued to burn Tuesday in a vacant two-story commercial building in the Sawtelle area near West Los Angeles as fire crews worked to extinguish the flames, authorities said.

Firefighters were sent to the 2000 block of South Bundy Drive about 6:15 a.m. Monday, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The firefighters went into a defensive mode outside the building, and were working to prevent the flames from spreading to other nearby structures, including a hardware store, Humphrey told City News Service.

"Well coordinated and methodical efforts continue to fully extinguish deeply entrenched pockets of stubborn flames throughout the vacant and boarded 53,500-square-foot two-story commercial building, the site of previous fires, that has sustained severe structural damage from today's blaze," Humphrey said in a statement late Monday morning.

"No injuries have been reported," Humphrey's statement said. "All lanes of Bundy Drive between Olympic Boulevard and LaGrange Avenue will continue to remain closed for safety, until LAFD operations are complete."

The cause of the fire was under investigation.