Crews were in a defensive operation Wednesday evening battling a greater alarm structure fire at a large, vacant and boarded up former restaurant in the Sun Valley area.

The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. at the former site of an Acapulco Mexican Restaurant at 8431 Sunland Blvd., near the Golden State (5) Freeway, said Brian Humphrey with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Sunland Boulevard between Nettleton street and the freeway was shut down while crews battled the blaze in the 5,736 square-foot building, Humphrey said.

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