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• 1 media/EXM-N-9632-011_7.jpg 2022-09-24T18:04:59-07:00 Warner Brothers Studio Fire (Burbank), 1952 6 This image depicts a Warner Brothers Studio fire that broke out in the summer of 1952. The fire, beginning around three o’clock in the afternoon of July 9, demolished millions of dollars’ worth of sets and props before igniting the nearby Hollywood Hills. plain 2022-12-05T11:22:08-08:00 This image depicts a Warner Brothers Studio fire that broke out in the summer of 1952. The fire, beginning around three o’clock in the afternoon of July 9, demolished millions of dollars’ worth of sets and props before igniting the nearby Hollywood Hills. While firefighters extinguished the fire on the studio lot within a few hours, the flames on the hillside continued to burn, eventually jumping the dried-out Los Angeles River and burning additional slopes in the San Fernando Valley. An estimated sixty acres burned in total [1]. While the brush fire did not damage any property, the damages to studio property totaled between 4,500,000 to 6,000,000 dollars. Studio officials first noticed the fire at the boat dock located at the south end of the lot. The fire then moved to destroy a vast metal hangar storing prop and real airplanes. Also destroyed were several trains, some of which were considered antique and rare. Perhaps the biggest loss to the studio was the property shed, in which thirty years of accumulated movie props were burned [2]. The fire did more than damage property, however. One firefighter was severely affected from smoke inhalation and twenty studio employees suffered from minor burns [3]. Arsonists were speculated to have ignited the fire. Arson-squad officers investigated this possibility, noting that it appeared the fire broke out in two separate locations simultaneously. Additionally, Sgt. Ed Hatcher reported that there was no apparent material at the sight of ignition that would have accidentally caught fire. The head of the Warner Brothers security force, Blaney Matthews, also admitted to the South China Morning Post that this fire, as well as a previous studio fire from May of the same year, were the result of arson [4]. Detectives took into custody four juveniles who were spotted close to the studio fence before the flames broke out. The four were later released, and the culprit(s) remained unknown [5].
   

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  [1] “Movie Sets Razed in California Fire,” New York Times, (July 10, 1952), 26.
  
  [2] “Arson Suspected in Screen Studio Fire,” The Austin Statesman, (July 10, 1952), A5.
  
  [3] “Fire Sweeps Warner Brothers Movie Studio,” Chicago Daily Tribune, (July 10, 1952), 3.
  
  [4] “Arson Suspected: Severe Damage in Studio of Warner Bros.,” South China Morning Post, (July 12, 1952), 10.
  
  [5] “Arson Suspected in Screen Studio Fire,” The Austin Statesman, (July 10, 1952), A5.