Universal Prepares for the Show to Go On : Fire aftermath: The studio has been cleaning up the sites of some of its most famous sets, which were destroyed Nov. 6. It plans to begin rebuilding Monday.

Walking through the blackened moonscape that was once the set for the movies “Dick Tracy” and “The Sting,” it was difficult Tuesday for Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Bob Haskell to believe it had been only two weeks since a multimillion-dollar fire ravaged the Universal Studios back lot.

“It looks so bizarre now,” said Haskell, commander of the first fire unit to arrive at the Nov. 6 blaze that destroyed several of the studio back lot’s most famous facades, including New York Street and Brownstone Street.

As the suspected arson fire raged out of control in four acres of dense wooden sets, “it just looked red,” said Haskell, who suffered a minor burn on his left hand. “There was flame everywhere.”

On Tuesday, the charred streets between Courthouse Square, featured in the “Back to the Future” film series, and studio warehouses were little more than a flattened, black field littered with sooty debris as work crews hurried to clear the area for set reconstruction scheduled to begin Monday.

This is Hollywood, after all. After the proper amount of mourning for sets that provided the backdrops for actors such as Warren Beatty and Robert Redford, the show must go on. Bulldozers moved in three days after the fire to begin clearing the charred hunks of wood and twisted metal that may have been part of a general store in one movie, a saloon in another.

“It looked like Hiroshima,” one worker said of the damage.

Damage estimates by sheriff’s officials and firefighters have been as high as $25 million. Dan Slusser, senior vice president and general manager of Universal Studios, said Tuesday that the figure might be a close guess but that the studio has not finished tallying its losses.

All that remained of the elaborate sets Tuesday, the first day reporters were allowed to roam freely through the fire site, were concrete fittings and piles of ash. Much of the bulkier debris had already been loaded into trash bins and hauled away.

A gutted truck and trailer sat idle on what was once a side street at the end of New York Alley. Workers said the film company that left it there was scheduled to tow it away later this week.

Dry hillsides, where the fire charred the grass, are now a velvety green from reseeding last week.

The studio’s King Kong exhibit, which sustained minor water damage, was reopened to tour groups Tuesday. The giant mechanical ape served as a backdrop for a brief awards ceremony during which high-ranking officers of the Burbank and Los Angeles city and county fire departments were congratulated for their work and 400 tour passes were donated on their behalf to the Alisa Ann Ruch California Burn Institute.

Cleanup crews of up to 45 people each have been putting in 11-hour days and begin their final day of work today. On Monday, construction crews will begin building the frameworks to support the elaborate facades of the resurrected movie sets.

In some areas, repairs already have begun. Scorched walls of the courthouse were given new facades and stacks of fresh lumber laid waiting to be formed into storefronts and movie marquees.

A construction supervisor said the sets should be completely rebuilt by the beginning of the tourist season in June. He said the new sets would be basically the same.

Slusser said designers have now built a scale model of the destroyed sets to guide the work, which will aim to retain the structures’ original ambience and incorporate changes that will add flexibility and make them more accessible to film crews.

To that end, Steven Spielberg, director of “E.T.” and other hits, has been involved in the early phases of reconstruction.

David Weitzner, president of worldwide marketing for MCA Recreation Services, said Spielberg began giving design input Monday morning. Slusser and Marvin Levy, marketing director for Spielberg’s Amblin Productions, said Spielberg’s role probably will be limited to the conceptual and design phases of the project and not extend to construction.

Despite the difficult time firefighters had in combatting the fire--which Haskell said he thought would “burn all the way to Lankershim” Boulevard--fire officials said they probably will not regulate set reconstruction.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Bob Grafton said the sets are not built as dwellings and therefore are not required to have building permits. He said the Fire Department has no real say in what materials the studio uses in reconstruction.

But Slusser said the studio will do as much fireproofing as it can by using flame-retardant materials.