1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: show that tallies the gains and losses of everyday history. 4 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in this episode, we're looking back 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: on the dark day when Universal Studios caught fire and 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: acres of Hollywood history went up in smoke. The day 7 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: was November sixth, nineteen ninety An arson fire swept through 8 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: the Universal Studios backlot. It was started on an outdoor 9 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: film set known as Brownstone Street by a security guard 10 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: with a cigarette lighter. The wooden building facades went up 11 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: like matchbooks, and fifty mile per hour winds carried the 12 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: flames to other parts of the backlot. It took four 13 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: hundred firefighters several hours to extinguish what was later described 14 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: as one of the largest fires in LA history. By 15 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: the time the smoke cleared, about twenty percent of Universal 16 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: standing film sets had been destroyed, along with countless movie props, costumes, 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: and camera equipment. The total damage was estimated at more 18 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: than fifty million dollars, and while Universal was able to 19 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: use insurance money to gradually rebuild most of the sets, 20 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: there was no replacing all the history that had been lost. 21 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: The alarm was raised at seven point fifteen that evening 22 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: when a Universal Studio security guard received a call about 23 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: a structure fire on Brownstone Street. There were still about 24 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: two hundred studio employees on the four hundred and twenty 25 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: acre property, as well as some tour groups, since the 26 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: backlot also hosted a popular tram tour operated by the 27 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: Universal Studios Theme Park. All the workers and park guests 28 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: were evacuated with no injuries reported, and firefighters arrived on 29 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: the scene within minutes. The frenzied scene provided quite the 30 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: spectacle for a group of politicians just half a mile away. 31 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: It was election night and hundreds of Republican Party members 32 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: had gathered at the Universal City Hilton Hotel to watch 33 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: the returns, and while the sight of a massive inferno 34 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: likely put a damper on their celebration, it turned out 35 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,959 Speaker 1: to be a pretty fitting backdrop, since the only Senate 36 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: seat that changed parties that night went to a Democrat. Meanwhile, 37 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: just down the hill, LA firefighters were also having a 38 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: rough night. The blaze was being fanned by dry gale 39 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: force winds and fueled by row after row of wooden facades, 40 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: classic cars and combustible chemicals. Eventually, the fire began creeping 41 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,119 Speaker 1: up the hillside, leading to the Tour Center complex, where 42 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: a fleet of trams and several other theme park attractions 43 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: were housed. First responders used everything they could to stop 44 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: the spread, including fire extinguishers, garden hoses, studio water tanker trucks, 45 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: and even water from the studio's Red Sea Tour attraction, 46 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: a parting river meant to replicate a scene from Cecil B. 47 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: De Mill's Ten Commandments. The fire burned for nearly three hours, 48 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: but through the combined effort of eighty six fire companies 49 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: and six helicopters, it was finally contained. By that point, 50 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: roughly four acres of famous movie sets had been lost, 51 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: including city streetscapes used in movies like Dick Tracy and 52 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: The Sting, as well as portions of Courthouse Square, which 53 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: had featured prominently in the Back to the Future trilogy. 54 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: Sets used in the filming of Spartacus, Ben Hur and 55 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: To Kill a Mockingbird were also consumed by the flames, 56 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: as was the wooden exterior of the King Kong Encounter, 57 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: a popular theme park ride that featured a thirty foot 58 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: animatronic ape Thankfully, the building's water sprinklers were set off 59 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: off by the heat, saving the mechanical cang and the 60 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: rest of the ride system. In another lucky break, the 61 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: vaults containing the studio's film archives were also saved, along 62 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: with the sound stages where many films and TV shows 63 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: were produced. One production that wasn't as lucky was Oscar, 64 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: a comedy set in the nineteen twenties starring Sylvester Stallone. 65 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: It had been shooting on the Brownstone set just a 66 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: few hours before the fire broke out, and the film's 67 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: extensive period wardrobe, props and twenty one vintage cars were 68 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: among the first things to burn. Oscar turned out to 69 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: be central to the fire in more ways than one. 70 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: Authorities later determined that the security guard behind the blaze 71 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: had been hired specifically to protect the film's classic cars. 72 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: Forty year old Michael J. Houston had been contracted through 73 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: a private security company called ironically Enough Burns Incorporated. He'd 74 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: been on the job less than two months before setting 75 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: fire to the back lot. Houston was booked on suspicion 76 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: of arson early the next morning after raising some red 77 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: flags in his interview with fire investigators. He later admitted 78 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: to having started the fire for no particular reason, though 79 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: his family members would attribute the crime to a mental 80 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: disorder allegedly caused by his exposure to chemicals while serving 81 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: in the Vietnam War. In the end, Houston entered a 82 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: guilty plea at trial and was sentenced to four years 83 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: in prison in January of nineteen ninety two, several weeks 84 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: after the fire, Universal began the lengthy process of rebuilding 85 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: what had been lost. Director Steven Spielberg took a special 86 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: interest in the project, helping to design replacement sets that 87 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: would retain the charm in details of the originals, while 88 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: also incorporating changes to better suit the needs of modern 89 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: film crews. The reconstruction took years to complete, with Disney's 90 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: Newsies being the first production to shoot on the freshly 91 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: rebuilt New York sets. On the theme park side, only 92 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: the King Kong Encounter was closed after the fire, and 93 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: only for about two weeks while the water damage from 94 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: the sprinklers was repaired. The attraction reopened in late November 95 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: during a ceremony honoring the four hundred firefighters who had 96 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,359 Speaker 1: helped save the studio. According to a Universal spokeswoman, the 97 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: three story seven Ton Kong animatronic was used to present 98 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: a top Banana award along with four hundred free tour 99 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: passes for the patients of a local burn clinic. And 100 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: while that sounds like a happy ending, don't raise your 101 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: bananas in celebration just yet, because on June first of 102 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, another massive fire broke out at 103 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: Universal Studios, and that time Kong didn't escape the flames. 104 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: The second fire had been started by accident after a 105 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: worker used a blowtorch to warm asphalt shingles and then 106 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: left before all of them had cooled. The most notable 107 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: loss that day was the estimated one hundred and fifty 108 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: thousand master recordings housed in the studio's music archive, including 109 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,559 Speaker 1: works by Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, and Aretha Franklin, among 110 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: many others. But the biggest casualty, at least in physical size, 111 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: was the King Kong encounter. The cherished attraction was completely 112 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: gutted by the fire, with only four exterior walls remaining. Still, 113 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: it's hard to keep a good Kong down, and in 114 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: twenty ten, Universal opened a new attraction featuring the Great 115 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: Ape right on the side of the original. It doesn't 116 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: have a giant robotic ape with banana scented breath like 117 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: its predecessor. No really look it up, but perhaps some 118 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: things are just too good for this world. I'm Gabe 119 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: Lusier and hopefully you now know a little more about 120 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even 121 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 122 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any 123 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, you can always send him my way 124 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 125 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you 126 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 127 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: another day in History class.