* Everything can be replaced or rebuilt, they say...
On June 1, 2008 an explosion reportedly ignited a four-to-five building fire throughout the backlot studios area in Universal City, California. The New York Street facade, a King Kong exhibit, and the Universal video vault were among the buildings engulfed by flames, causing more than $25 million worth of damage. At least one building has been destroyed by the flames and as many as three blocks of movie facades have been destroyed, including two mock New York and New England streets and Courthouse Square, the set most famously known from the Back to the Future trilogy and the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Helicopters have been dropping water on to the burning structures, and television pictures showed flames leaping into the air as a thick cloud of smoke covered the site. This smoke was caused by the burning plastic in the video vault building. In a subsequent press conference, studio president Ron Meyer announced that it was a video vault building, not a film vault, that was destroyed (contrary to earlier reports that suggested the film vault was destroyed or damaged) and that nothing destroyed is considered irreplaceable.
There is one report of smoke inhalation and three people suffering 'minor injuries' but no fatalities.
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