Police are searching for a suspect who stabbed a firefighter who was responding to a call at a downtown Los Angeles hotel.

Officials say firefighter Charles MacDougall, a nine-year department veteran, is hospitalized in stable condition after Tuesday morning's attack.

Fire Department spokesman Richard Matheney says MacDougall and a colleague was treating someone who had fallen ill at the Cecil Hotel when somebody alerted them to a second person who needed help. When they went to check on the condition of that person, an assailant attacked MacDougall and stabbed him in the chest and back.

Police say the hotel, which serves low-income residents, has been plagued with drug dealing and other crimes.