I was out shooting some footage early this morning at the same time the fire on the Universal Studios back lot was getting started. I wasn’t interested in shooting it, but I did find the frame below at the head of one of my takes. 

Turns out the fire was pretty extensive, damaging much of the “New York” section of the lot, including the “Back to the Future” courthouse. Also damaged were some of the studio tour attractions including some of the “King Kong” portion of the tour. Finally, the plume of black smoke in the picture is from a videotape vault that was completely destroyed. At first there was some fear that original negatives were in danger, but that turned out to be untrue. When I got home I could smell a faint touch of melted plastic in the air. No cause for the fire has been determined as of yet.

View looking southwest down Olive Ave, towards Universal Studios fire.