UPDATE, 6:28 PM: Talk about deja vu. Fire broke out in a construction area atop the former Technicolor building Thursday afternoon at Universal Studios. Workers were cutting and handling ductwork when sparks ignited insulation material, according to a Universal spokeswoman. The blaze was extinguished quickly and damage was confined to the construction “shed” on the roof of the building near the intersection of Lankershim and Cahuenga. No injuries were reported. The building is unoccupied and undergoing internal demolition prior to eventual re-purposing.
PREVIOUSLY, 5:23 PM: Fire erupted in a three-story building on the Universal Studios backlot Thursday afternoon. CNN reported that 55 firefighters responded and the fire was knocked down by about 1 pm. No injuries were reported. The building was “under demolition,” fire officials said. Cause was unknown. A 2008 fire destroyed several locations over four acres and 13 “blocks” including the New York street sets. Those were restored and reopened in summer 2010.


Hope no one was injured.
I’ve lost count already; how many fires on that studio since the early 1990′s?
Just tear the whole fucking place down already, as it seems to be one big fire hazard. But what can you expect, it’s fucking Universal. Worst studio, ever!
It was the welders (again). And it was the old Technicolor Film lab building, in the front lot. Ironic as we move into digital?
Crazy. 55 firefighters and media coverage… Wow. I have a very close and clear view of the studio from my house and I didn’t see so much as a plume of smoke or hear a siren all day.
Then you weren’t looking. There were half a dozen trucks and a ladder truck dumping guys onto the roof. It was pretty entertaining.
I was working on the Universal lot in 1990 the evening of the big fire in Courthouse Square which destroyed The New York Set. Now THAT was an amazing scene. (And curiously, William Shatner was not directing the fire-fighting efforts.)
i saw ron at a party shortly after he took over the job at universal. i asked him how it was going, how dramatic a difference it was from the agency world. he said the biggest difference for him was the variety of issues he then had to deal with–and he mentioned, for instance, a fire on the backlot which he had to deal with in the middle of the night. i guess the fires keep on coming for ron.
Hope that the Tales of the Golden Monkey set wasn’t damaged. My favorite part of the back lot tour. Haven’t been in a while, tho.