A massive fire broke out at Universal Studios Hollywood early Sunday morning, destroying backlot property.
There are currently no reports of any injuries, though one building was burned and as many as three blocks of movie sets were destroyed.
While the fire is contained, it’s still raging and 100-200 firefighters and two helicopters are trying to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby dry brush.
The fire sent smoke thousands of feet into the air and caused at least one explosion, which can be scene in this BBC video of the scene.
Filming had been going when the fire broke out. Universal Studios Hollywood has seen the filming for movies like Jurassic Park and ET, and visitors to the year-round theme park have flocked to its backlot tram tour, which features the house from Psycho and special effects sequences from Earthquake and Jaws.
Universal Studios Hollywood is located in Universal City, CA, about nine miles outside of Los Angeles.
This is not the first incidence of fire at the Studios. In 1987, a fire destroyed blocks of movie sets 30 minutes after a bomb threat was called in.
[UPDATE:] The LA Times confirms that several studio streetscapes, including those of New York and New England, were lost, and that an estimated third of a square mile had burned. Also, the theme park will be open today, though the studio tour would be affected because of the blaze.
[UPDATE: 6/1/08 at 5pm and 11pm: read more.]
[Source: Yahoo!, BBC]
1 Comment »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment