Reports have been circulating about an explosion which occurred at Universal Studios this weekend. The following is a report from the New York Times.
Large Fire Strikes Universal Studio Lot
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — A massive fire erupted early Sunday at NBC Universal’s studio lot here, destroying a vault full of video and television images and parts of a popular studio tour, including the studio’s King Kong attraction.
The blaze locked crowds out of the company’s theme park, and at least five firefighters were injured. But the fire was not expected to delay Sunday evening’s live broadcast from an adjacent amphitheater of the MTV movie awards, which were scheduled to fill the area with celebrities, including the event’s host, Mike Myers.
Universal officials said the video vault, which was still burning as of Sunday afternoon, contained images of films and television shows dating back to the 1920s, including the films “Knocked Up” and “Atonement” and the NBC series “Law & Order” and “The Office.”
But in no case was the destroyed material the only copy of a work, the officials said.
The “King Kong” attraction, one of the most popular on a tram tour that begins inside the Universal Studios theme park and continues through portions of the lot, was completely destroyed, a Universal spokesman said.
Also damaged in the fire were a New York street scene that was used only recently in the filming of “Frost/Nixon,” an upcoming Universal film directed by Ron Howard, and a courthouse square that was featured prominently in “Back to the Future.”
Studios typically store multiple copies of their films and shows both on their lots and in remote locations. At Universal, a 1990 fire that ultimately led to the arrest of a studio security guard for an arson that destroyed much of the same area, including the New York street set and parts of the King Kong exhibit.
A studio spokeswoman said the company was cooperating with fire officials in an investigation of the cause of Sunday’s fire, which damaged at least several acres of the 230-acre lot.
Inspector Ron Haralson, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said Sunday afternoon that about 400 firefighters were battling the blaze, which involved five buildings on the lot. Several firefighters have been injured, he said.
“We are going in with heavy equipment to get the seat of the fire,” he said. He said the fire was heaviest in the film vault.
Inspector Haralson could not say when the fire department expected to extinguish the fire.
“We are going to be working well into the night, into tomorrow,” he said.
Ron Meyer, president of the Universal Studios Group, said at a press conference that both the studio and the theme park planned to be “open for business as usual” on Monday. Mr. Meyer said a television series, “The Ghost Whisperer,” and a television commercial production, had recently used some locations damaged by the fire.
But the studio spokeswoman said no productions were working when the blaze broke out, at about 4: 45 a.m. on Sunday.
By early Sunday afternoon, crowds of tourists were milling outside the theme park, while waiting for an opening that was delayed several times. Thick clouds of dark, acrid smoke still poured from a portion of the blaze that continued burning past noon.
At that point, the smoke was moving away from the theme park, but lay heavy around the adobe bungalow that houses the offices of the filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his Amblin Entertainment. the Universal spokeswoman said no producers or executive offices were expected to close as a result of the fire.
In broadcast interviews, fire department authorities described the firefighters’ injuries as being relatively minor, resulting from heat exhaustion and burns.
Some tourists, many of whom came from afar to visit Universal Studios, found themselves with nothing to do but wait as firefighters did their work.
Asked whether the fire promised to ruin a good vacation day, Jennifer Bailey, visiting from the Cache Valley, Utah, said. “Yeah, it kind of does.”
Watching the smoke from a foot bridge on the Universal property, she added: “They said they were going to open at 12:30. But we don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
