Fire hits Universal Studios, destroying sound stages

CALIFORNIA: Firefighters on Sunday battled a gigantic blaze at Hollywood's famed Universal Studios 12 hours after it erupted, ravaging the legendary film studio's most famous stage sets and tourist attractions.

The blaze at Universal City's backlot, which continued to smolder here Sunday, destroyed various soundstages, an archive and a streetscape depicting New York City, causing tens of millions of dollars worth of damage.

At film studios where directors conjure up dramatic scenes of disaster, flames topped 30 meters (yards), fed by propane gas from ruptured cannisters at the site of the conflagration. The cause of the fire remained under investigation, officials said.

A column of thick black smoke rose from the fire at Universal City, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of Los Angeles, home of Universal Studios' amusement park as well as its working movie and television studios.

"As I walked out this morning ... it looked like a bomb exploded in the San Fernando Valley," Los Angeles councilman Tom LaBonge said Sunday, after surveying damage wrought by the massive fire.

Universal City, Monday AFP