Fire Rages At Universal Studios

[bigworld]

Source: Sky News

More than 100 firefighters are tackling a blaze which is tearing through Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
Fire at Universal Studios

Fire captain Frank Reynoso says the alarm was raised just before dawn and at least one explosion had been heard.

He said the fire is contained to a sound stage on a back lot and crews are working with the studio's own firefighters to ensure the flames do not spread to nearby brush.

There have been no reports of injuries.


Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1317758,00.html?f=dta

[C_U_L8R]

1. here's some background on the NYC street scene

http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/backlot/newyorkstreet.shtml

[Ian David]

2. Did Rudy 9iu11ani visit the New York set yesterday? n/t

[PCIntern]

3. Funny! DUzy material! n/t

:rofl:

[C_U_L8R]

4. Yeah, that's his command post going up in flames... again

doh!


on edit: they just announced that one of the film vaults is on fire... that's heartbreaking

[ret5hd]

6. Hmmm...

"The New York Street area has been used in countless productions over the years. It's been rebuilt after fires in 1957 and 1990..."

I wonder if this has just been a way to get insurance to pay for rebuilding.

[Joanie Baloney]

15. Oh get real

This is a major film studio. I think they have enough money to rebuild a set without having to resort to insurance fraud. They are probably self-insured anyway. In fact Universal is a city within itself; they have their own fire department. A fire their is a business expense, not an insurance claim.

[City Lights]

5. When I saw your post, I turned on MSNBC to see the roof collapse.

:-(

[kevinmc]

7. I am watching it and it looks like it is spreading ......

there is more than one building on fire.

[Miss Carly]

8. hopefully that doesn't get into the brush..that could be a real mess then

http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream2

watch it live on computer


wow, alot of buildings are on fire

[kestrel91316]

19. Well, the "brush" it is up against is known as Griffith Park, which

pretty much already burned last year........and what didn't already burn is overdue for a fire to renew the chapparal........

[Hawaii Hiker]

9. I wonder if this occured at the "Backdraft" experience

Which is the ride (well, it's not a ride per se like a roller coaster, you know what I'm talking about if you've been to Universal Studios) based on the Ron Howard film about firefighters....Perhaps one of the tanks exploded...

Or, did this occur in a back lot (where they film movies) separate from the theme park...

[Miss Carly]

10. I was wondering the same thing

I haven't been to Universal Hollywood in many years, and trying to remember where this lot is. I am thinking it was the one where the clock tower from Back to the future is, and the ride where we rode into the subway and the water rushed in is at.

[Hawaii Hiker]

12. I think the ride w/the water rushing in was something else, Backdraft

is the one where you basically stand in a room & explosions start occuring...It's a brief ride, but it's very intense....

Actually, I like the VIP tour @Universal because that's where you get to do all the movie experiences (ie; tours of sound studios, backlots, prop rooms, etc.)

I nearly got sick on the "Back to the Future Ride", have a weak stomach for those type of rides, lol.....The Terminator 3-D is my favorite ride there...

[Miss Carly]

39. we went on the terminator 3d one at universal in florida

that was awesome!

Carly

[damntexdem]

43. The same tram ran through the King Kong building that burned and collapsed.

And it went down the streets of the NYC scenes.

But did this fire miss the house-on-fire the tram went by? Or Jaws causing a gas fire on the pier next to Cabot Cove?

[Lorien]

11. It's in the backlot. n/t

[DesertRat]

13. They said that there was filming going on when the fire broke out

Fortunately no injuries. I wonder what they were filming.

[AngryOldDem]

14. I heard a film vault was going up, too. n/t

[Wilber_Stool]

16. Oh no.

That is bad.

[kestrel91316]

20. Local radio report said they are aggressively defending the film vault.

Question, however: WHY IN HELL is a valuable film vault anywhere NEAR a known tinderbox like the Universal lot??? They need to have it AWAY from any fire-prone structures. But nobody asked for MY opinion, lol.

[AngryOldDem]

24. Good question.

Those should be kept off-site, IMHO.

Aren't there a lot of archives at USC, or are those mainly TV archives?

[Shoelace]

28. Reuters says; vault had original & master versions of old movies destroyed

the exact quote:

"A total of five structures within the New York exhibit, including one soundstage, were lost," he said, adding that the blaze had started in the backlot area depicting New York City, which was destroyed.

He said about three-quarters of a building housing a "King Kong" exhibit was destroyed. A building that holds a video vault of original and master versions of old movies had been destroyed and the vault itself had been "compromised."

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN0141774920080601

Terrible news, they made some of the best old movies ever. Hope they have copies somewhere??

[hyphenate]

35. Hmmm

Conflicting reports:

This one is from CNN:

At a news conference Sunday morning, fire officials said the blaze was contained.

Still, large plumes of smoke rose from the blaze that continued to burn at a video vault. "Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost." said Ron Meyer, CEO of Universal Studios. "The video library was affected and damaged, but our main vault of our motion picture negatives was not."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/06/01/studio.fire/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

[Shoelace]

40. sure hope that is true; here's a list of all their movies ever made

and ones planned for the future through 2009. I didn't see several on this list however, like ET, Schindler's List, etc., but perhaps that was made by one of their other studios?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Universal_Pictures_films

[hyphenate]

34. Video vault

not the film vault. Meyer said that nothing that couldn't be replaced has been destroyed.

[Radio_Lady]

17. Sorry to hear this story...

Looks very bad in this link.

Thank you for posting.

Radio Lady in Oregon

[Miss Carly]

18. king kong and the earthquake rides are destroyed

per myfoxla.com

[Up2Late]

27. Oh man, that sucks about the King Kong ride, I thought it was just on old back lot sets...

...but the Earthquake ride is no big loss, it sort of sucked anyway.

I worked on the crew that built the Earthquake ride at Universal Studio/Florida and most of the same people did the same rides in California, so I'm sure some of them are looking forward to re-doing the ride with all the lessons learned over the last 20 years built into the new ride (if they even rebuild it).

[annabanana]

21. Universal is NBC. . Where's O'Reilly?

Who knows what hounds of hell these demagogues might unleash?

[pattmarty]

22. My understanding (and worry) at this time is the film vaults.

[Shakespeare]

23. local news update: film vault NOT burning, but video vault is

Universal rep on TV saying people were carrying video reels out by the armful before the fire got too bad. I live over the hills in Hollywood, and can see the smoke from here.

[Shoelace]

25. I heard the smoke is very toxic, black soot settling everywhere?

from a comment in LA Times. They said they were told to close all windows, stay inside, etc. I can imagine, all the plastics, etc. going up in that thick, black smoke. Totally sad all the way around.

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. yes, it smells awful. Not like a typical large fire.

[ThoughtCriminal]

26. Let me guess

It started on the set for "Springtime for Hitler"

[Bluebear]

29. "Back to the Future" set is gone, video vault with 40,000 videos/reels gone

LOS ANGELES - A large fire tore through a back lot at Universal Studios early Sunday, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels.

Officials say the iconic courthouse square from Back to the Future, has been destroyed, and the famous clocktower that enabled star Michael J. Fox's character to time travel has been damaged.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080601/ap_on_re_us/studio_fire

[Occulus]

31. *whew* not as bad as people are fearing on this thread

From the link you posted:

Roughly 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels were damaged in the vault, but there were duplicates stored in a different location, NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer said.

"Nothing is lost forever," Meyer said.

They were

[Bluebear]

32. Excellent. When I posted it at first it was 1 minute old and had one paragraph

Still awful about the BTTF set though

[DesertRat]

30. Were they filming Oliver Stone's new W movie there?

:tinfoilhat:

[hyphenate]

33. I saw that!

OMG, I know that area only too well. Up in the same part of the lot is one of the biggest buildings which houses all the carpentry, woodworking, first aid, and so much more.

Courthouse Square, which most people know from the Back to the Future movies, was also seen (in some scenes) in the new Indiana Jones movie, as well as being featured as the main set for the TV show, Ghost Whisperer. Thankfully, many TV shows are on hiatus, but it's going to be a bitch to recreate that set.

Since it was/is Sunday, there aren't a whole lot of people working today, but the trams do go through Courthouse Sq. whenever possible, so it's going to make a huge gap in the tour. I wouldn't doubt that maybe they cancelled a lot of the tours for today, but how much they're going to have to cancel them indefinitely is a question.

Ironically, one of the areas close to the fire is where the Emergency Services building is located.

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. The entire valley smells like burning tires. Ashes falling everywhere.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. Picture

[galledgoblin]

41. a lot of blame seems to be falling on Universal for not implementing

a number of fire safeties inspectors told them to put in. the water pressure was so low in the hydrants that firefighters had to resort to bucketing from nearby ponds.

I had a momentary panic when I read that the fire was taking out old films in the vaults, but it seems those were copies- assuming the originals are intact, nothing should be lost.

[damntexdem]

42. Oh, poor King Kong! And NYC, and Back to the Future!

Oh, the tram ride will be so somber for a while.

Although, I take it that it will still fly with ET.

[slackmaster]

44. The Firesign Theature foreshadowed this event decades ago

A movie called Universal Pictures' The Day Universal Burned Down was nominated for an Academy Award in a scene in a track called "The Nominees Are" on the album In The Next World You're On Your Own.

"It's a disaster on the back lots, Chief! The Red Sea ride has overflowed into the Peewee Forest!"

"Two stunt men have killed each other on the Oriental Violence Set!"

"An airplane crashed into our crashed airplane!"

"Miss LaMont's lunch blew up in her dressing room!"