Universal Studios Fire On Historic Back Lot (VIDEO)

***UPDATE*** A fire at Universal Studios has destroyed a set from "Back to the Future," the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels.

Los Angeles County fire Captain Frank Reynoso says the blaze broke out just before dawn Sunday on a backlot stage at the 400-acre property. The fire has been contained.

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.

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

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — A large fire raged on a back lot at Universal Studios on Sunday, devouring several movie sets and the theme park's King Kong attraction, officials said.

The King Kong exhibit is a stop on the studio's tram tour where the giant ape bellows at passengers and artificial banana scent fills the area, studio spokesman Eliot Sekuler said.

[WATCH]

Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Daryl Jacobs said at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed.

Two mock New York and New England streets used for movie making and tourist displays were "a total loss," he said.

Though the fire was contained, it was still raging, Jacobs said.

The blaze broke out just before dawn on a sound stage at the 400-acre property, fire Capt. Frank Reynoso said. There was at least one explosion.

A thick column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the air and for a time helicopters swept in to drop water.

More than 100 firefighters were trying to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby brush, Reynoso said. One firefighter was hospitalized for unspecified injuries.

Sekuler said the theme park would open Sunday, though the studio tour would not go to the King Kong part of the attraction. He said a commercial shoot was going on when the fire broke out. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Universal Studios is located nine miles north of downtown Los Angeles that has thrill rides and a back lot where movies and television shows are filmed.

Some of the more familiar attractions on the back lot are the clock tower from the "Back To The Future" movies and the house featured in "Psycho."

Scenes from several blockbuster films and television shows have been filmed at the studios, including "War of the Worlds," "When Harry met Sally" and "Scrubs."

Comments

[RTIII]

I have been asked to help design and implement secure places for long-term data storage, and have advised on many such projects...

There may well have been a fire, but there would have been no loss of master recordings, etc, if the site was managed properly. Who ever it was who had the job of managing the place should be fired on the spot - and vilified by those who know who the person is. Securing recordings isn't all that hard to do. Granted, it costs some money, but it's not _that_ hard. Further, there should have been a duplicate of _everything_ in that vault - EVERYTHING. Even if the back up wasn't of the same quality, "close counts."

[EggZacktly]

Universal Studio has been taken over by Scientologist.

If they lose out that makes me happy.

[frantaylor]

They will need to duplicate the remaining copies in order to prevent another such event from eliminating them completely. The duplication process is expensive, time consuming, and introduces noise. At least the duplicates will be new stock and will last longer. Film is a fleeting medium. Most of the movies ever made have turned to dust.

[Krikkit]

Damn. Sets can be replaced, but the VAULT gone? How sad.

[BlackJAC]

They managed to rescue the reels and tapes, and there were duplicates in other facilities elsewhere.

[jpperry]

Was crazy to see and smell the smoke while driving on the 101 this morning. I've never seen smoke go straight up light that.

[ArabianMonkey]

What a loss! Part of the idea of America that I admire is the result of the entertainment made there that I've been consuming all my life, and continue to. Your legacy is that which you create - and some of it sat in that video vault! This is sad and freaky in so many ways.

[ishok]

What a coincidence... Hillary's Dream of a Presidency went up in flames today!

[deckard70]

From Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily.com

Quote:
UPDATE: Uni Blaze Burns Musical History

It looks like more was damaged or destroyed in today"s Universal Studios fire than anyone previously thought. I've learned that Universal Music, which is a completely separate company and owned by Vivendi (which owns 20% of NBC Universal), rents space in the huge video vault housed on the studio lot. But one source tells me that, as a consequence, inside the video vault that was billowing thick black smoke were 1000's of original Decca, MCA, ABC recording masters from the last century including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters to Judy Garland and The Carpenters. "This is a tremendous loss in music history. A very sad day indeed. It's too bad they saved the videos that they have backups on instead of the master recordings in which they do not, although they may not have had a choice since the fire had already engulfed much of the music side of the vault," a source just told me. Universal Studios can't confirm what has been damaged or destroyed music-wise at this point because it doesn't yet know what exactly was housed in the storage rented to Universal Music.

[shockmagog]

That's just great. What a tragic loss for us all.

[watchingthings]

Maybe Doc mistakenly crashed the steam locomotive into the studio when he flew back in from the future.

[Coltfan7]

I certainly hope that this doesn't put Babs Jansen out of a job now......

[AMJordan]

Wouldn't she be retired by now?

I thought she quit after the big fight between the Blazing Saddles actors and the Paris in the Evening (or whatever it was) dancers.

[BlackJAC]

No, she's still working at Universal, and the years have been very kind to her.

[wbm]

Were any Teamsters or technicians or talent injured in this? Sets can be rebuilt and replaced, people cannot.

[shockmagog]

Last I heard on the radio, 9 firefighters and 1 L.A. county sheriff suffered minor burns and heat exhaustion. No Universal employees were in any danger. The fire started at about 4:45 am PST, and was still burning at around 6 pm.

[coldcanuckinwhite]

Hope this was not a backlash for Sharon Stone's karma comments. Hmmmm....

[kellygrrrl]

lol

[Fernando]

-Oh, that's heavy, Doc!.. Doc?Doc! We need to go back in time and save the set.

-No Marty, we must not interfere with the space time continuum for our personal ends. The results could be disastrous!

Damn, too bad Doc vowed to destroy the time machine after getting Einstein.

Damnation!

[racetoinfinity]

The sets' destruction doesn't bother me too much, but thank God they have duplicates of all the video and film that was destroyed. That's cultural history.

[Krackonis]

Shame it wasn't a New's or Oil corp that lit on fire.