Blaze Engulfs Vacant Panorama City Strip Mall, 5 Firefighters Hurt

PANORAMA CITY (CBSLA) – Five  firefighters were injured while knocking down a fire that engulfed a vacant strip mall in Panorama City Saturday.

The fire was reported at around noon in a vacant 150-by-50-foot strip mall in the 13700 block of Roscoe Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Firefighters arrived to find heavy flames coming from the building.

About an hour into the firefight, a partial collapse of debris injured two firefighters. Their fellow firefighters jumped into action and pulled both men to safety within 30 seconds.

Another two were hurt for exhaustion-related injuries. A fifth firefighters suffered non-related injuries. All five were rushed to local hospitals.

CBS2's Laurie Perez said none of the injuries are life-threatening.

She was there when the call for "Mayday" came.

It took about 150 firefighters two hours and 14 minutes to bring the blaze under control.

The two firefighters hurt in the debris fall were in stable condition, LAFD reported. The two with the exhaustion-related injuries were in fair condition, while the fifth firefighter was in good condition.

The men injured when the building collapsed were taken by surprise.

"They were talking next to their truck getting equipment maybe out of their truck or walking a hand line to the back and they got caught when the top portion of the building fell out," said Chief Guy Tomlinson.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.