Link to story. Happening now. Multiple other buildings involved. Pictures are pretty amazing.

Quote:
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. --  Two helicopters and about 200 firefighters were trying to protect the film vaults on Universal City's back lot, where a huge predawn fire broke out on a sound stage during a production, authorities said.


The blaze was reported in a sound stage on the studio backlot at about 4:45 a.m., and about 200 county firefighters were helping studio firefighters quench the blaze, which reportedly spread to the New York City streetscape.

At 6:45 a.m, it was reported that the film vault at Universal Studios was burning. Firefighters reported about a third of the building was in flames as they poured on water.

Firefighters at Universal Studios also reported that the King Kong exhibit was in flames, as well. Firefighters said the King Kong exhibit building was going to be a total loss and was expected to collapse, with flames more than 100 feet tall are shooting through the roof.

Several other buildings have been lost since the fire broke out on the back lot.

No injuries were immediately reported, said fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs.

County firefighters were hampered by explosions from propane tanks as they fought the fire, Jacobs said.

Two helicopters were dropping water, he said, adding that firefighters were attempting to keep the blaze from the film vaults.

The fire began during a film shoot, he said.

At least one sound stage and several other buildings were believed to have been lost within about 30 minutes.

Some park attractions have reportedly been damaged.

Firefighters were working to ensure the flames don't spread to nearby brush.

Anybody have any idea what is in the "vault".

BBC: Fire raging at Universal Studios
including video footage

Quote:
Reports suggest the blaze has damaged Universal's New York street scene.

wow that's a big fire

THis is bad news indeed....the Moles are coming to California for a three week vacation in July...guess what is number one on the list of attractions to visit!

Anotther story....

URGENT! Universal Studios Backlot Fire: NYC Streetscape & King Kong Destroyed; Video Vault Damaged But Film Vault Safe
A huge fire described as an "inferno" on Universal City's lower backlot broke out before dawn today and destroyed several buildings, sets and a sound stage and damaged a video vault, causing tens of millions of dollars worth of damage. "It looked like a bomb had exploded," one Burbank city official exclaimed. Among the sets damaged were the New York City and New England streetscapes, and among the buildings one housing the King Kong exhibit and one sound stage. In the archives building next door, Universal employees were bringing out hundreds and hundreds of containers of video vault material hand to hand to save it from the flames. Universal Studios president/COO Ron Meyer appeared at a news conference this morning alongside fire department and city and county officials to clarify what was, and wasn't, damaged or destroyed. Calling the fire fighters "real heroes" who arrived on the scene in  record time while the flames were burning out of , Meyer said he wanted to "make clear" that the theme park was not affacted and would open at noon. What was damaged was the video library, he said. "But our main vault of motion picture negatives was not." In terms of the videos, "nothing irreplaceable was lost. We have duplicates. Obviously there's a lot of work to replicate what was lost, but it can be done," Meyer explained. He also said no shows or movies were affected "at all." by the fire. He noted that the TV series Ghost Whisperer uses 8 different locations and 2 were damaged but that it wouldn't hamper the show. And he said only a commercial was shooting on the New York streetsscape. "We were very lucky today. It's a bad situation but it could have been worse," he concluded.

The blaze was first reported in a sound stage on the studio back lot at about 4:45 a.m., and about 400 local firefighters were helping Universal Studios' own firefighters quench the fire. Several acres on the 230-acre back lot were burning at one point, creating a black cloud over the famed Hollywood Hills. Though the fire is contained, it is still raging. According to the fire departmnents, the flames "blew very fast" through the area of the New York street facades, then moved through Courthouse Square where Back To The Future was shot, then engulfed the King Kong building, totally destoying its inside. Hampering firefirghter efforts inside the video vault building was the thick black smoke billowing from all those plastic containers on fire. Salvage efforts involved moving "hundreds and hundreds" of videos out of that structure, while the building itself was drowned with water. Three firefighters received minor injuries, and another suffered heat exhaustion.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation. But today's inferno at Universal City is eerily burning many of the same back lot areas destroyed by a disastrous blaze in 1990.  In that fire, gale-force Santa Ana winds whipped flames through the New York Street, the set used for the film Ben Hur, and most of the Courthouse Square facades. That damage was estimated at more than $50 million, and an elaborate reconstruction project took several years to rebuild the sets. The 1990 fire was officially ruled arson and reportedly deliberately set by a security guard with a cigarette lighter.

http://usatoday.feedroom.com/index.jsp?fr_story=FRdamp275100&rf=rss

I absolutely agree on the VIP Studio Tour, same is true at Disney.

Question from Disney University
How many rocks did it take to build Cinderella's Castle at D-World?

Skip

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.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

Skip: none. It's all pretend...