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Firefighters hurt, historic church destroyed in L.A. fire

Two Los Angeles City firefighters were injured Tuesday while battling a fire at a historic two-story church in South Los Angeles.

The fire was reported at 9:27 a.m. at the Crouch Memorial Pentecostal Church of God In Christ, located near the University of Southern California campus, the Los Angeles Fire Department told KCBS-TV.

The wooden church's roof and second story partially collapsed in the blaze while firefighters were performing an interior attack, LAFD Spokesman Erik Scott said.

Two of the 75 firefighters on scene were injured in the collapse and rescued by fellow crew members, officials said.

Both men were transported to a local hospital with unknown injures.

"We are fighting on the exterior, no longer on the interior because of safety concerns," Scott said.

All other firefighters were later accounted for, he added.

Additional details were not released.

The church was built between 1895 and 1896.

An LAFD arson team in addition to the department's House of Worship Task Force will investigate the cause of the fire.

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