Last Updated: 06/02/08 3:25 PM (more photos added)
A major fire broke out in pre-dawn hours at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 1st 2008. The fire, located on the lower lot, burned over a two block area that included the King Kong attraction which you ride through on the tram, and the Courthouse Square building which was featured in Back to the Future movies. The New York streets appear to be mostly destroyed.
This is not the first time that the lower lot has suffered a major fire. This is the second time that the Courthouse Square area has burned. After the fire in the 90’s, the fire department worked with the company to build new fire suppression systems in the back lot. Those measures appear to have largely failed this morning. The fire department reporting that water pressure was a major problem. The King Kong building caught fire from the roof, overwhelmed the fire system, and became too dangerous for fire fighters to save.
Fire fighters fought to save the video vault and remove as many cases as possible from the building, but after many hours of fighting, the building was eventually lost. The vault contained an enormous film archive. However Universal CEO Ron Meyer said that backups and copies exist and although it would be a lot of work, nothing important will be lost.
It has been reported that low water pressure forced responding units to pump water out of the lagoon where they part the Red Sea on the Tram Tour. How the fire started and why supression systems failed are under investigation.
The theme park remained closed throughout Sunday the 1st but reopened as usual, including the Tram Tour, on Monday the 2nd.
UPDATE: 06/02/08 11:13 AM - The Tram Tour is back up and running and taking guest right past part of the burn area - about 20 feet away. There are still about 20 fire trucks within view of the trams. The Courthouse (of Back to the Future fame) was damaged but still standing!
UPDATE: 06/02/08 5:30 PM - Sources close to the investigation report that the fire was an accident caused by workers who were repairing the New York street sets with “Heating Tools”. Still no word on what went wrong with the fire suppression systems and why the fire was able to spread so quickly.
Below are a comparison shot of the areas affected after the fire and before. They are marked so you can better determine where everything is:
After the fire (photo by SnowWhiteRaven)
Before the fire
The following photos were taken on the morning of 06/02/08 (the day after the fire). Thank you to Snow White Raven and Sir Clinksalot for these amazing shots:
Photo by Sir Clinksalot
The pictures below are courtesy of Al Lutz of www.miceage.micechat.com from his recent walking tour of the Universal lot. Additional photos were posted 06/02/08 at this link. All of the areas that you see below were damaged or have been completely lost. An interior shot of the facades gives a clue as to why the fire was able to spread so quickly.
This is Courthouse Square as currently dressed for the TV show Ghost Whisperer (Photo by Al Lutz)
Forecourt of Courthouse Square (Courtesy Al Lutz)
New York street Brownstones (Courtesy Al Lutz)
New York Streets (Courtesy Al Lutz)
New York Streets (Courtesy Al Lutz)
This is an interior shot showing what is behind the facades. You can see why the fire spread so quickly.
King Kong Interior (Photo by Al Lutz)
RIP King Kong (Photo by Fishbulb)
More photos to come
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