Devastating fire at Universal studios destroys Back To The Future set and more

A huge fire is devastating the back-lot at Universal studios. The fire, which broke out at 4.45am, seems to have started at a sound-stage on the studio backlot. The King Kong exhibit is in flames and enormous damage has been done, but no injuries have been reported.

The 'three-alarm' fire has been contained to four buildings and is being fought both by municipal firefighters and those resident at the Universal lot. An explosion was also reported.

There was a large fire outbreak at the back-lot in 1990, which did $50 million dollars' worth of damage. Fire-fighters report that no filming was in course at the time of this new outbreak, but this has not been officially confirmed yet.

Firefighters had trouble tackling the blaze due to a problem with the water supply in the early stages. Bruce Almighty, Ally MacBeal and Seinfeld were all shot in the destroyed buildings.

There are unconfirmed reports that the Universal film archive has been destroyed, a potentially horrendous loss for movie historians, and we must await news of digital or chemical off-site copies before being able to assess the extent of the loss.

The Back To The Future lot is also in flames. Despite the fire, Universal studios will open for business as usual today, with certain parts of the tour not being available. The MTV movie awards ceremony tonight will not be affected.

Arial footage reveals a sad and blasted sea of smoking rubble that once constituted a vast, fixed maze of streets used in countless Universal productions since the 1920s, although a great deal of the damage occurred to areas already rebuilt in 1990.

The damage is very close to Steven Spielberg's Amblin' studios. Spielberg spearheaded the rebuilding of the lot after the arson-induced 1990 fire.