Fire at Universal Studios

[pin142]

From http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...275-954,00.html A HUGE fire has devastated Universal Studios film sets overnight but plans to host the MTV movie awards there will still go ahead. A total of 400 firefighters from several Los Angeles-area fire departments battled the blaze, and three were treated for minor injuries, said LA County Fire Inspector Sam Padilla. He said the fire had been contained to a single structure, the King Kong exhibit and predicted the blaze would be "knocked down" within hours. "A total of five structures within the New York exhibit, including one sound stage, were lost," said another LA County fire inspector, Frank Garrido, who added that the fire started in an area depicting New York City, which was destroyed. A building housing a video vault had been severely damaged and the vault itself was "compromised." A Universal spokeswoman said about 40,000 to 50,000 videos had been damaged but the studios either had copies of those films or could easily copy them. The contents of a second vault holding master copies of older and classic movies were salvaged. "Nothing irreplaceable was lost," said Ron Meyer, Universal Studios' president and chief operating officer. The studio said the full monetary damage had not yet been fully assessed. Garrido said the studio's theme park and popular City Walk shopping center would be open, but tours to the studio back lot, where the fire occurred, had been canceled. The fire was not expected to affect Sunday's taping of the popular MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Ampitheatre, which was not affected by the fire. Sunday's fire burned some of the same back-lot areas destroyed by a blaze in 1990, which whipped through the New York Street and a set used for Ben Hur. It took years to rebuild and repair those damages estimated at $50 million. Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs said it was not immediately clear what started it. Firefighters encountered explosions from propane tanks and called in helicopters at one point to drop water. Universal Studios is bounded by the City of Los Angeles and communities like Burbank. It is home to the Universal Pictures movie lot and Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Universal Studios Hollywood houses attractions such as Revenge of the Mummy - The Ride and Shrek 4-D. Its CityWalk mall has 65 restaurants, nightclubs and shops. Universal Pictures is one of six major film studios with a history that dates to 1909. It has been a major producer of horror movies and tapped a young Steven Spielberg to make 1975's Jaws. The director still houses his production company, Amblin Entertainment, on the Universal lot. Other hit Universal titles have included the Back to the Future and Jurassic Park movies.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Oh Crap - Kong was damaged? Damn that sucks! Seems funny that it is the same part of the lot that was damaged in the 90's. It is good that the vaults lost nothing irreplacable, but one would hope that the vaults would be a little better protected irrespective of whether they were "irreplacable" or not

[cadboy]

Yeh I know, you would think the vaults would be fireproof. I wonder how much the damage is going to be $$$. Time for a big insurqnce payout Thanks for the information Pin142

[DonjaiInLA]

Lets hope Ghost whisperer set was destroyed! : ) seriously.

[taronga]

It's a great loss to the studio and theme park community, and yes the fire destroyed courthouse square. (no more ghost whisperer)

[Gazza]

It's a miracle Backdraft didn't sustain any damage.

[mickey_079]

Lets hope Ghost whisperer set was destroyed! : ) seriously.

Well considering the famous town hall (clock tower in BTTF) was burnt severely, then yes the set was damaged. The town for Ghost Whisperer is the same set for BTTF and many other movies and shows. Just a few pics of the damage... damn this was a HUGE fire, the pictures really show the extend of the damage.

[DonjaiInLA]

I guess thats the problem with the timber supports they use extensively in their permanent sets, perhaps it would be less of an inferno if they used steel?

It's a miracle Backdraft didn't sustain any damage.

would they even notice? Apparently the actual courthouse sustained little damage.. is this true? They have a movie at the gates which shows some of the movies that used the now destroyed lots.. like the park itself is mourning the loss.