Universal Studios lot on fire
Today a fire ripped through the Universal Studios lot destroying a set from “Back to the Future,” a “King Kong” exhibit and a streetscape seen frequently in movies and TV shows.
It was the second fire on the lot in two decades, leveling facades, hollowing out buildings and creating the kind of catastrophe filmmakers relish re-creating. This time around, thousands of videos chronicling Universal’s movie and TV shows were destroyed in the blaze.
Universal officials said that they were thankful no one was seriously injured at the theme park and that the damaged footage (40,000 reels of film and video)
can be replaced.
Ron Meyer, NBC Universal’s CEO said:
“We have duplicates of everything. Nothing is lost forever.”
The fiery blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades around 4:30 a.m. at the 400-acre lot. The fire was contained to the lot and 400 firefighters were still trying to put it out several hours later.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars.
In 1990 another fire damaged and destroyed up to $25 million in damages and was started by a security guard who was then sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.
The fire will not affect tonight’s broadcast of the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which is to broadcast live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in the adjacent Universal CityWalk.
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