LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A fire that swept through a vacant, six-story downtown building injured 15 firefighters, two of them seriously.

AP World Wide Photos/Neil Jacobs Los Angeles City firefighters pump water on a fire in the Old Federal Reserve Bank building in downtown section of the city.

A group of firefighters, including eight of the injured, became trapped on the vacant building's roof and had to be rescued by helicopter Monday.

More than 200 firefighters tackled the fire at the former Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The blaze raged for more than four hours before firefighters got it under control about midnight.

One firefighter fell about 15 feet and another was hospitalized with serious smoke inhalation, said Bob Collis, a fire spokesman. Thirteen other firefighters had minor smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals for treatment, Collis said.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

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Official LAFD Incident Report

On Monday, April 10, 2000 at 1918 hours (7:18 p.m.), forty-two companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, twelve LAFD Rescue Ambulances and two LAFD helicopters, under the command of Assistant Chief Richard Warford, responded to a Major Emergency Structure Fire at 409 West Olympic Boulevard in the Convention Center area.

First units on scene reported a six-story former Federal Reserve Building with heavy fire and smoke showing.

During the initial interior fire attack with handlines, Firefighters encountered a heavy volume of smoke, heat and fire. Withdrawing to the exterior, firefighters used heavy stream appliances to knockdown the bulk of the fire and then re-entered the structured with handlines for final extinguishment.

The second floor mezzanine where the majority of fire was located contained rolled bolts of fabric that was apparently part of "Original Fabric Selection Inc." Knockdown was called at 2351 hours, four hour thirty-three minute duration. During fire fighting operation, fifteen firefighters were injured (smoke inhalation minor burns, and heat exhaustion minor injuries), including one Firefighter who fell approximately fifteen feet, sustaining serious injuries.

All fifteen Firefighters were transported to local hospitals: (UCLA Medical Center, USC Medical Center, California Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital).