Fire destroys sets and videos at Universal Studios

[Raph's Girl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080601/...studio_fire_23

One of Hollywood's largest movie studios starred in a disastrous sequel Sunday as a fire ripped through a lot at Universal Studios, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," a King Kong exhibit and a streetscape seen frequently in movies and TV shows.

It was the second fire at the historic site in nearly two decades, leveling facades, hollowing out buildings and creating the kind of catastrophe filmmakers relish re-creating. This time around, thousands of videos chronicling Universal's movie and TV shows were destroyed in the blaze.

But Universal officials said that they were thankful no one was seriously injured at the theme park and that the damaged footage can be replaced.

"We have duplicates of everything," said NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer. "Nothing is lost forever."

The blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades around 4:30 a.m. at the 400-acre property, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. The fire was contained to the lot, but about 400 firefighters were still trying to put it out several hours later.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars.

The iconic courthouse square from "Back to the Future" was destroyed, and the famous clock tower that enabled Michael J. Fox's character to travel through time was damaged, fire officials said. Two mock New York and New England streets used both for movie-making and as tourist displays were a total loss, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs said.

An exhibit housing a mechanically animated King Kong that bellows at visitors on a tram also was destroyed.

All three sites were either damaged or destroyed during another fire at Universal Studios in November 1990. That fire caused $25 million in damage and was started by a security guard who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.

The park remained closed Sunday afternoon as hundreds of visitors waited outside the gates, where acrid smoke lingered. Fire officials didn't believe air quality would pose a health hazard to the public. On a typical weekend day, about 25,000 people visit Universal Studios.

Mike Herrick of San Diego watched the fire on television from his hotel before deciding to return to Universal Studios for a second day with his wife.

"By gosh, we're going to go and get whatever we can out of it," Herrick said. On Saturday, Herrick rode the tram that winds around the studio lot, snapping photos of the King Kong attraction, among other sights.

The fire broke out along New York Street, where firefighting helicopters swept in for drops and cranes dumped water on the flames. A thick column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the air and could be seen for miles.

"It looked like a disaster film," said Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

At one point the blaze was two city blocks wide, and low water pressure forced firefighters to get reserves from lakes and ponds on the property. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.

"The water pressure situation was a challenge," Freeman said. "This fire moved extremely fast."

Meyer estimated there were 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels in a video vault that burned but said duplicates were stored in a different location. Firefighters managed to recover hundreds of titles.

The videos included every film that Universal has produced and footage from television series including "Miami Vice" and "I Love Lucy."

Universal Studios, nine miles north of downtown Los Angeles, has thrill rides and a back lot where movies and television shows are filmed, including scenes from "War of the Worlds," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Scrubs."

The fire will not affect the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which is to broadcast live Sunday night from the Gibson Amphitheatre in the adjacent Universal CityWalk, according to the music network.

[GK Punk]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

The fire will not affect the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which is to broadcast live Sunday night from the Gibson Amphitheatre in the adjacent Universal CityWalk, according to the music network.

Oh, well let's thank god for that.

[Cure]

Jesus, I was JUST there, too.

[Raph's Girl]

Apperantly there was some damage to the set of Ghost Whisperer... 2 exterier sets were damaged but it wasn't enough that it'll stop filming. Wisteria Lane, however, wasn't damaged at all.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b140...rss_topstories

[CudleyCowlick]

The clocktower! Not the clocktower!

This is rough days... almost as sad as when the Wallace & Gromit studio burned down a couple years back.

[Drtooth]

Originally Posted by GK

Oh, well let's thank god for that.

Actually, let's thank god no one was hurt or killed.

They can have duplicates of every movie and set... they can't have duplicates of people.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Wow... that's crazy! I am very glad no one was hurt

[GK Punk]

Originally Posted by Drtooth

Actually, let's thank god no one was hurt or killed.

They can have duplicates of every movie and set... they can't have duplicates of people.

Actually... I was joking. Those sets being destroyed were a lot more tragic than if the Movie Awards were postponed.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Tinuvielsdreams

Wow... that's crazy! I am very glad no one was hurt

Actually several fire fighters and a deputy sherrif were injured.

Aaand the reason behind the major fire at Universal studios???.... Sparks from a blow torch...oops!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080603/...niversal_dc_16

A fire that burned through a large swath of the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot during the weekend was accidentally sparked by workers using heating tools on a film set, fire officials said on Monday.

The blaze erupted before dawn on Sunday in a portion of the lot containing exteriors used to resemble a New York City streetscape. It reduced a two-city-block area of the lot to ashes and burned through much of the adjacent Courthouse Square set that has appeared in such films as "Back to the Future" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Also destroyed was the popular "King Kong" attraction featured in the Universal Studios Theme Park tram tour of the back lot, and a warehouse where thousands of copies of archived TV shows and films were stored. Studio officials said all of the material lost in the video vault could be replaced.

More than 400 firefighters battled the flames late into the night. Nine firefighters and a deputy sheriff suffered minor injuries, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said at a news conference.

He said an investigation revealed the fire was touched off by three members of a studio work crew who had been using a blow torch to apply asphalt shingles to the roof of a building facade.

They finished their work at about 3 a.m. and stood watch for an hour, according to company policy. Seeing no signs of a fire, they left the scene for a break, but a security guard in the vicinity noticed flames about 45 minutes later and called the fire department.

The fire, which burned for about 18 hours, forced authorities to close the theme park for the day, but the facility was reopened to tourists on Monday morning.

Much of the same area scorched by Sunday's blaze had been destroyed by a 1990 arson fire and was subsequently rebuilt.

Firefighters were hampered on Sunday by low water pressure at times, but Freeman said the difficulty seemed to result from the overwhelming water demands posed by the blaze. At the height of the fire, more than 18,000 gallons of water per minute were being poured into the flames, he said.

Only one current TV show, the CBS series "The Ghost Whisperer," was staged on the portion of the lot damaged by the fire. That series is on summer hiatus and not scheduled to resume production until June 11, a studio spokeswoman said.

She said no movie productions were affected by the blaze.

Universal is operated by NBC Universal Inc, which is 80 percent owned by General Electric Co.

A couple images:

Nothing left but the door:


I don't think you can drive thru there sir:


That poster wasn't even touched!


This is the set from War of the Worlds....no it wasn't destroyed (sets from Spider-Man 2 and Transformers 1 were tho) ...it was already like that...and yes that's an airplane:

[Tinuvielsdreams]

So it was sparks from a blow torch?! That's some oops

[Spike Spiegel]

Is the clock tower completely destroyed?? I wanted to visit it someday...

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

I guess there's no real way to prevent fires like that from happening, the sets presumably intended for temporary use anyway.

Ironically enough, years ago in high school they showed the old "Gone With The Wind" movie, and the teacher told us that only some pieces of furniture remain from the movie, as the sets used in other scenes were deliberately burned by the studio for the fire scene (taking place during Sherman's March to the Sea toward the end of the US Civil War.)

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Marty McFly

Is the clock tower completely destroyed?? I wanted to visit it someday...

No... the clock tower isn't completly destroyed...it was just damaged...it'll be repaired....everything will be rebuilt just like it was when the arson occured in 1990 in that same area.

[Dr. Doom]

Originally Posted by TheCure

Jesus, I was JUST there, too.

Looks like somebody was too late!