Friendly Fire : 3-Day Seminar Given Year After Studio Disaster

A fire raced through a building at the Universal Studios back lot Wednesday exactly one year after a wind-whipped blaze destroyed $25 million of the company’s historic movie sets.

But this time the fire was no more real than the New York street where smoke billowed from a movie-land facade.

It was just the first act in a studio extravaganza.

Universal Studios recreated the fire--and an explosion, an earthquake and a toxics spill--as part of a three-day seminar on how to deal with disasters.

More than 100 representatives from cities, schools and businesses throughout the country gathered to find out how studio executives handled the Nov. 6, 1990, fire that destroyed 20% of the sets on the 420-acre lot.

But such serious topics didn’t stand in the way of that old Hollywood magic.

Even people who shelled out $695 to attend the conference had to act for their lunch in a land where Ernest Borgnine is honorary mayor and Don Knotts is the honorary sheriff.

The scene was set by Paul Holehouse, director of corporate emergency preparedness for MCA Inc., Universal’s parent company.

“You are going to be a bunch of disenfranchised people who came from a high-rise fire,” he directed the “refugees” before they headed toward an American Red Cross food truck in the square where “Back to the Future” was filmed.

The meal--Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes--was typical Red Cross cuisine served after disasters.

“It’s a little more exciting than sitting for a day and being lectured at,” said Gail Christie, who is preparing a disaster plan for a Santa Clara electronics firm.

The action quickened when the group gathered around a four-story facade:

* A window exploded, glass shattered and smoke spewed toward the stunned crowd.

* A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter dropped water on an “imaginary” brush fire.

* County firefighters rappelled from the top of the building to rescue two disaster “victims” who clung to a second-story ledge.

The sets destroyed in the fire have been rebuilt, some exact copies of the earlier facades, others enhanced with technical improvements.

The man charged with starting it, former guard Michael J. Huston, is scheduled to go on trial in Superior Court today.

On Wednesday, studio executives reflected on what went right--and wrong--during the fire. Studio employees directed fire crews through the maze of sets and provided information for shutting off gas lines, Holehouse said.

But studio executives had trouble getting past police barricades. Water pressure was so low that firefighters had to dip into the lot’s Red Sea.

Still, the studio was open for business the next morning, prompting inquiries from companies organizing emergency response teams, Holehouse said.

The lessons to be learned at the conference were real. But, for just a moment, the scene became surreal.

As the conferees pretending to be refugees waited for their genuine Red Cross meals, a tram of tourists drove by. They stared expectantly. Cameras clicked.

“They probably think this is a movie shoot,” said Denise Benson, an administrative analyst for San Bernardino County. “They’re looking for movie stars.”