Fire Sparks Interest in Universal’s Tour : Movie studio: Thousands of visitors come to view the charred remains of the back lot where “Dick Tracy” and “Back to the Future” were filmed. But some tourists are unimpressed.

Visitors by the thousands flocked Wednesday to the Universal Studios Tour’s newest multimillion-dollar attraction--”Inferno.”

MCA officials quickly added the smoldering remains of their famous 1930s-look movie backdrop to their tour itinerary and sent tram loads of sightseers around the five-acre site destroyed Tuesday night by a roaring, arson-caused fire.

The new tour stop was a roaring success for studio visitors, who have come to expect growing doses of realism and excitement with such attractions as a mock avalanche, flash flood and earthquake.

“This is an added attraction--something other people haven’t seen,” said Tyrone Charge, a tourist from Melbourne, Australia. The 40-minute tram ride Wednesday morning gave him a good view of firefighters poking through the ruins of the make-believe town square featured in “Back to the Future” and countless other movies.

The fire devastation scene “was an added plus,” agreed Pearl Balla of Hamilton, N.J. “The fire was awesome on TV. I was interested in seeing it for myself. It was interesting.”

But other studio visitors found that realism on the screen does not always match up with reality on a movie lot.

“The damage wasn’t as bad as I thought after watching on television,” said Carolyn Garrahan of Massachusetts.

“Not nearly as bad,” nodded Dan Beem of Twin Falls, Ida. “Not at all what it looked like on TV,” agreed Dave Smith of Calgary, Canada.

“We saw the TV coverage. But from what we saw here, it was practically nothing,” said Ed Davidson, visiting from Philadelphia. “They over-emphasized the fire on TV. Exaggerated it. I thought the whole place was destroyed.”

Lots of other people did, too, say tour operators. That was why they hurried to resume the tram trips across the 420-acre studio lot, even before firefighters rolled up the last of their hoses after battling the blaze in which a studio security guard was arrested on suspicion of arson.

The blaze affected only a few of the back lot tour attractions, visitors discovered.

A gas line that feeds a make-believe “burning” building on the tour remained shut down because of the emergency. A smoky stench lingered in the building that houses the tram-shaking earthquake attraction. The King Kong show was temporarily closed while officials checked for possible structural damage and swept up water sprayed by interior fire sprinklers.

But everything else looked normal--or at least as normal as possible at a place where “old” buildings are sometimes actually brand new and massive concrete pillars are really facades of lightweight plaster and plywood.

The frightening shark from “Jaws” jumped from the water on cue. Studio workers bustled back and forth with carts and trucks full of lights and other film-making equipment. Flashing red lights signaled that filming was taking place inside hangar-size sound stages.

Although some of the 400 firefighters had only 11 hours earlier reported water pressure problems at the back lot, the nearby artificial “Red Sea” was filled to the brim and ready to be parted when tour guide Sandi Logan led the first tram load through.

“We recently had a fire,” Logan explained to her passengers. “A very small portion of the tour was affected. We’ll be taking you very close to it.”

Visitor Becky Parkinson of Anaheim and others jumped from their seats for a better view when the tram stopped at an overlook above the fire scene. Cameras clicked and whirred as Logan pointed out that the “Back to the Future” courthouse clock tower was saved by firefighters.

“That’s my favorite place,” said Parkinson, who was taking the tour with her actor-husband, Rick (Rockwood) Parkinson for the third time this year.

“It’s sad. But I’m not really disappointed. It doesn’t seem as bad in person as it did last night on TV.”

Which brought up the question of what’s for real and what’s for reel at a movie studio.

“It might not have been a real fire,” David Ruchti of Pocatello, Ida., said with a smile. “It might have been put on. That’s what this place is about.

“How do you know?”