SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Salt Lake City Fire crews battled a second-alarm fire at an abandoned building near 700 South and 400 West early Monday morning.

Salt Lake City Fire Department Captain Chad Jepperson told ABC4 the call came in around 1 a.m. on Monday, March 6 when a passerby reported smoke and fire. When crews arrived they found the abandoned building had “heavy fire” coming from the roof.

By the time crews arrived, the building already had structural damage as the roof was collapsing. Jepperson said this meant responding firefighters went on the defensive, meaning they would stay outside of the building for safety.

“When we are defensive like this it makes it difficult to get the water on all of the fire because have the structure in our way and it’s too dangerous at this point to get inside,” Captain Jepperson said. “We will continue to knock it down as we see it the best we can but there will still be some fire and smoke for a number of hours.”

Firefighters have been battling the fire from multiple sides. As a result, the intersection of 700 South and 400 West has been completely blocked off. Fire crews are asking the public to avoid the area until crews are finished extinguishing the fire.

Smoke and fire could likely be seen for many hours into the morning.

Jepperson said the building had been abandoned for quite some time and was scheduled for demolition. Since the building had been long abandoned, there is no equipment inside burning, meaning the fire is structural only and fire crews don’t have any concerns of hazardous materials catching fire.

At this time, no injuries have been reported as a result of the fire.

Jepperson said eight to nine fire engines responded to the fire, including crews from United Fire Authority.