Huge fire at Universal studios.

[Feba]

universal city - Google News

That's a looooooooot of priceless movie stuff destroyed or ruined.

[Akashimo]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

Nuuu not Back to the Future sets ; ;

[Jarre]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

That fire took hold very quickly due to its construction and the fact they had no sprinkler systems installed, something in the Uk that wouldn;t have happened. The Pinewood studios fire int eh Uk a few years back was contained to a small area and part of the roof due to sprinklers and the quick action of thr Buckinghamshire fire service.

[Feba]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

On the other hand, if it had happened in the UK, no films anyone cares about would've been destroyed.

But anyway, where'd you see that they didn't have sprinklers? I've even seen residential sprinklers, the fact that a huge company like that wouldn't have had their stuffed retrofitted is bizarre.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

Not to mention the fines they'd incur if a codes officer were to poke through there at any time. Any commercial building is required a zillion sprinklers. I used to know the exact spacing but I forgot and I don't care to look it up.

It sucks that so much was lost, but it's just stuff, and most of it is at least immortalized in films. Better to have lost stuff than beings.

[Jarre]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

On the other hand, if it had happened in the UK, no films anyone cares about would've been destroyed.

But anyway, where'd you see that they didn't have sprinklers? I've even seen residential sprinklers, the fact that a huge company like that wouldn't have had their stuffed retrofitted is bizarre.

simple Feba, The way the building took hold, tthe description of how it started, factors which could have been combatted easily with a fully maintained and working sprinkler system and with LPG on site that alone should ahve a drenching / foam system around it, it would here.

I'll ignore that other comment Feba, thats just being elitist..

Aksaanyi,

Sprinkler spacing depends on the height of the area it covers, type of hazard its protecting (fire loads, chemicals etc.) their no one design for all. You must also realise that some of these big companies get away with things, money talks and the large corporations get away with blue murder, until something like this happens and questions are asked. I belong to a fire forum and their are already uestions being asked about the safety features of the building and why it took hold so quickly.

[Shadowneko]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

backlot fires are nothing new...there were some big ones in the age of the silver screen/black and white movies.

Still it's kida sad that those sets will no longer be around to tour...

[DakAttack]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

Who has the time to care? I don't know why people always feel the need to feel ways about things.

[Caspian]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

I can't imagine them not rebuilding some, if not all, of those sets. Particularly the Back to the Future set. Its too much a part of film history and too much money from people coming and paying for the ride.

[Kitalrez]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

something in the Uk that wouldn;t have happened.

Ok, what about Aardman studios last year? Sure, most of those were claymation sets, but you lost pretty much everything from the original days of that studio in one fell swoop. Pretty groundbreaking stop motion film stuff there that will never be duplicated.

And incidentally, this wasn't a huge fire. 2 sets and and a vault isn't huge. Chicago fire of 1871 was huge, San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake severed all the water mains was huge. This is more big, or large. Also, they said they have backup footage of all the films that were destroyed, so they're not losing things forever. Just the sets, which are historic, but not something you couldn't rebuild if you had to.

[Jarre]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

Aardman stuidos is a small 2 storey old mill dating back from 1884. The report on the fire said that the sprinkler system did not activate because of the valve had been snapped off in a vandal attack. All wasn't lost, the Avon firefighters managed to save some of the items. I know my brother was one of them!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Huge fire at Universal studios.

How unfortunate to lose things that are a part of filmmaking history. Thank goodness that the films lost have duplicates in another location.