Fire Ravages Universal Studios’ Back Lot

A spectacular fire ravaged Universal Studios’ back lot Tuesday night, forcing authorities to evacuate restaurants and theaters on the grounds and to temporarily close entrances where Republican Party faithful were trying to get to the Universal City Hilton for election-night celebrations.

Tour groups and about 200 studio employees were still on the lot when the fire broke out about 7:15 p.m., but no injuries to civilians or firefighters were reported.

There was no immediate estimate of damage, but the loss was expected to be in the millions of dollars.

Lew Wasserman, chairman of MCA, Universal Studios’ parent company, said he was “talking to our people every 15 minutes. We won’t know how serious it is until they knock the fire down.”

More than 400 Los Angeles city and county firefighters, assisted by water-dropping helicopters, contained the blaze about 10 p.m.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The blaze destroyed sets known as New York Street; an adjacent alley scene; Brownstone Street; Courthouse Square, where “Back to the Future” was filmed; the Dick Tracy Building, where that hit movie was made, and the set where “Ben Hur” was filmed, said county Fire Inspector Jim Gandee.

The most intense flames were in the set facades, which Gandee described as “just like kindling.”

The fire also heavily damaged the King Kong exhibit on the Universal Studios tour and the tour’s Earthquake exhibit, fire officials said, but firefighters saved the studio’s film archives.

“There were no sound stages lost, but we lost a lot of sets,” said county fire Battalion Chief P. Michael Freeman. “We had a firestorm in there. The fire was whirling with the wind. It was blowing through the whole back lot with . . . gusts up to 50 m.p.h.

Studio officials, however, said damage to tour attractions was “minor” and the facility will be open today.

It was not known how the fire might affect the proposed $8-billion purchase of Universal and MCA Inc., by Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industries Corp., also known as Panasonic. The studio and other facilities are worth an estimated $500 million.

Traffic on the nearby Hollywood Freeway and area streets was snarled for hours after the fire erupted as police closed streets, temporarily keeping hundreds of GOP supporters away from their election-night headquarters.

Hundreds of onlookers lined Barham Boulevard, which runs alongside the Universal property, to watch the flames. Emergency vehicles trying to get to the fire also were caught in the snarl.

Gusty Santa Ana winds cleared skies over Los Angeles on Tuesday, making a column of smoke from the studio blaze visible in Northridge 10 miles away. Flames shooting as high as 150 feet into the night sky provided a dazzling light show for motorists on the Hollywood and Ventura freeways.

The fire began in a warehouse-type building, then quickly spread on gusty winds to at least two other structures and to dry brush on nearby hillsides, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Richard Thomas said.

The flames raged over a four-acre area, forcing the evacuation of an undetermined number of tourists and about 200 employees before it was contained, Thomas said.

A witness who declined to be identified told reporters he was at the top of the hill near an office building and was looking down on the set of “Oscar,” the new Sylvester Stallone movie, when he saw the fire start. “There was a little flame that just started spiraling straight up the hill,” he said. “The wind was blowing so hard that it just shot up the hill. I can tell you there is a lot of damage. It’s a multimillion-dollar fire.”

One man employed on “Oscar,” a John Landis production, said he walked onto the set while firefighters were putting out the last embers. “That New York set is gone,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. “We left 40 cars out there, antique automobiles, and they’re gone. The whole thing is leveled. It was a beautiful set, too.”

Half a dozen fire helicopters flew within 100 feet of the fire and dropped water on the blaze through wind-driven smoke that billowed as high as 4,000 feet.

Near the Universal City Hilton, where the GOP’s election-night party was being held, a huge traffic jam limited access, forcing Republican attorney general candidate Dan Lungren and his wife, Bobi, to walk up a hill from Lankershim Boulevard to the hotel.

Secretary of state candidate Joan Milke Flores said her driver went the wrong way down a one-way street in order to reach the hotel. Others already in the hotel watched the flames with an air of incredulity.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson told the crowd at the hotel that snarled traffic because of the fire had made it “very difficult for people to gain entry, so you’ll have to be very careful and probably a little patient as you depart. But let me just say this. Our good wishes and our thanks go to those firefighters. Please be very cooperative with them.”

Vehicle access to the hotel was restored shortly after 8 p.m.

In the 23rd-floor suite of state controller candidate Matt Fong, guests listened to Chinese musician Li Guang-Zu play a violin-type instrument called the pi-pa as the fire raged in their view beyond the windows.

One Fong supporter, John Woo, a South Pasadena real estate developer, asked: “Is it a real fire? I thought it was movie-making. You know, this is still Universal Studios.”

Glendale High School’s band and cheerleaders were stuck in traffic on their bus for 20 minutes before finally getting into the hotel.

“We were stopped out there on Lankershim in the left turn lane,” said one student, Dolly McDonald, 18. “The fire was huge. We were afraid we were going to have to go home.”

In 1987, fire destroyed the three-story “Spartacus” set and three other buildings at Universal.

Times staff writers Frank Clifford, Michael Connelly, Paul Feldman, Andrea Ford, Nieson Himmel, John Kendall, John H. Lee, Patt Morrison, Bob Pool and Richard A. Serrano contributed to this story.