Acrid smoke hung over Hollywood Sunday, as a fire at Universal studios claimed two popular filming locations, an amusement park attraction and a vault containing more than 40,000 copies of films and TV shows. Although the theme park remained closed all day, the show went on at the facilitie’s Gibson Amphitheater, where the MTV Awards were held Sunday evening.

The sets "New York Street" and "Courthouse Square" (of Back to the Future fame), as well as the King Kong attraction that’s part of the studio tour, were all burned to the ground in the predawn fire that injured several firefighters. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but a commercial shoot was using the location when the blaze went up, although no production was occurring at the time the blaze started.

Four acres of the lot’s 391 were damaged, including two of the eight locations for the CBS drama The Ghost Whisperer and a set most recently used by Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, which recently premiered at Cannes. The 4:45 am blaze broke out in an area previously burned in a 1990 fire caused by arson. The cause of this fire is still unknown. 

Toxins from the melting plastic and reels from the video vault polluted the air around Universal Studios. Residents with respiratory problems who live in the surrounding areas were advised to avoid outdoor exposure. Insufficient water pressure was an issue fighting the blaze.