On June 30th, a fire broke out on the lot at Warner Bros. studio in Burbank. Sources say the power went out before a bunch of dark smoke began emanating from the lot. Several bystanders posting images and videos of it on social media.
Around 1:38 pm PT, the Burbank Fire Department received a call that a transformer had blown, and was now on fire. The department was able to react quickly and had the fire out within 30 minutes. Because of this, the blaze stayed localized to a far end of the lot, ironically near its own fire station. But to be fair, their water tower was drained awhile ago to contain Yacko, Wacko, and Dot.
Luckily there were no reported injuries or damage to any of the buildings.
While there is rarely a good time for a fire, fortunately, most staff were already gone due to it being a Friday before a long holiday weekend. According to a Warner Bros. spokesperson, remaining staff were sent home due to safety concerns.
“There was a fire contained to one building on the main lot this afternoon,” the email sent to staff read. “The fire is out and there are no reports of injuries. Teams are evaluating impacts to the buildings. Power to the lot has been shut down and is expected to be down for the next couple of hours. If you are still at work, please go”
The studio will also launch an investigation, but with the assumed cause there probably aren’t too many preventative measures that they can take.
One of the big concerns here is this fire came as the area is about to enter a heatwave. Temperatures in Burbank are expected to hit 90 degrees this weekend, with the surrounding LA valleys possibly hitting triple digits.
The Warner Brothers and Sister could not be reached for comment.
