A LARGE FIRE IS CONSUMING A SOUND STAGE at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles this hour.

KTTV

The fire began just over two hours ago and is destroying one of Universal’s major sound stages.  At this moment the FD believes that they have the fire contained to the one building, but there is great concern about the safety of the Studio’s film vault and archive which is located nearby.

The KTTV helicopter is live-streaming the fire HERE.
KNBC is also live-streaming HERE.

Update #1:
The fire has apparently started in the outdoor “New York Street” lot and spread into the building.  Much of the New York Street, Brownstone Street and New England Street sets have been involved in this fire so far.

This same set burned in a multi-million-dollar fire in 1990.  At 7:30 am Pacific time the FD stated that they have the upper hand on the fire and are confident that it will be controlled very quickly.  More than 350 firefighters are on the scene.

The outdoor “City Streets” sets surround the fire
building.  The “lake” in the foreground is the tank
where underwater shots are produced.  (KNBC)

Update #2, 7:45 am Pacific:
The Los Angeles County FD spokesman just announced that the film vault is safe and uninvolved at this time (there are conflicting reports on this, however…FG).  Universal officials are saying that this fire does not affect the theme park and it will be open for business as usual today.

KNBC

Update #3, 8:00 am Pacific:
A later report says that four buildings have been damaged or destroyed, one of them is a sound stage.  The others are storage buildings and a garage.  Approx. 8-10 of the outodoor  ”city street” facades have been lost.

KNBC

Update #4, 10:55 am Pacific:
The building that had earlier been described as a film vault is actually a video vault.  It has become involved in the fire and will be a total loss.  The head of Universal Studios said that everything in there were duplicates and are replaceable.  While the dollar loss will be high, there will not be a cultural loss.  The video storage building is the last one burning.

A total of 5 buildings have been lost.  While the other four are just down to hot spots, the video building is a stubborn fire because of all the plastic and tape.  The FD is just pouring water on from the outside and there is a massive smoke cloud from it that is drifting over a neighboring city.

AP

Early reports of a water problem for the first units are believed to have stemmed from a deluge sprinkler system that was built into the street facades after the 1990 fire.  The system was temporarily robbing the water supply but it was overcome and isolated.  The FD also special-called some tankers in to support the water supply.

A very early loss report that can change later holds that 5 buildings have gone including the King Kong exhibit which is a stop on the studio tour, as well as the video storage.  The other three are a large sound stage, a storage building and possibly a garage-type building.

Also the New York Street, Courthouse Square and New England Street outdoor lots have been destroyed.

At the moment, 4 firefighters have been treated for injuries, mostly minor, but one has been transported to a hospital.  No civilians have been reported injured.

Universal says that there was NO filming scheduled to be going on at the time the fire started which was around 4:45 am.  FD resources have been noticeably reduced during the past hour.

This brief NECN video report shows one of the buildings collapsing and the roof falling in on another one:

The Associated Press filed this video report of the Fire Chief’s 9 am press conference:

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