Breaking News

[hells_half_acre]

Russ Hamilton (the Location Manager for Supernatural) has that music that plays during gunfights in westerns as his ringtone. You know: doalualu do do do do dualualu do do do do.

And that's all you need to know for this scene from today:

I'm on the Official Location Tour, and Russ pauses next to my seat on the bus to answer his phone, which has just rung. I smile at the ringtone.

Russ: Yes? ...It's on fire now? 

And he says it in a voice where I'm not sure if he was perhaps expecting something to be on fire...but I'm not sure, so...

Me: That can't be good.

And Russ looks me dead in the eye, and mouths: THE BACKLOT IS ON FIRE.

I believe I gave him an expression similar to the one Dean is wearing in my icon.

Sure enough, when we were in sight of Burnaby, you could see a large plume of smoke...and when we got to the closest intersection, you could see the extent of the fire. Russ thinks they lost their favourite bar to film in, and the pizzaria that Dean met Death in, and a lot of the brownstones that looked like New York as well. 

Supernatual WASN'T filming there at the time. It was a small production Bollywood film.


Pictures:

Coming into New West/Burnaby


As seen from Bobby's scrapyard.


Russ on damage control


Here you can see that only a portion of it is burning (it's where the fire hoses are pointed). Russ said that if it had spread to the facades, then they'd be really screwed, because those would burn in a second and the fire department wouldn't even bother trying to save them. The fact that the fire was (as we passed) contained to the cement-based buildings was a good thing.

I should add that although Supernatural has invested a half a million into the backlot (according to Russ), it does not belong to them.  They are just one of many productions that use it. Though according to Russ, not all productions look after it like Supernatural does. The person who is really screwed is Michael Buble, because apparently he was supposed to be filming a music video there tomorrow or the next day. Supernatural is supposed to film there next week, and may still be able to, but Russ already has his scouts looking for alternative locations just in case.

UPDATE: 

No one was hurt when a warehouse being used by film crews caught fire Monday afternoon in Burnaby.

Flames were spotted shortly before 2pm on the northeast corner of Byrne Road at Marine Drive.

Burnaby RCMP Inspector Tim Shields says it appears a couple of welders working on some scrap metal sparked an explosion when they tore into a gas line.

Traffic had to be re-routed, but the fire is now under control. (source)

Comments

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

O.o

bugger. Can't wait to hear about the trip. I did pick up form another COn goer, that Kevin Parks confirmed that they'd deliberately fucked with the timeline continuity, as they hadn't wanted to project the show ahead into 2012. Thought you'd like to hear that!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I'll be typing up the trip now. LJ is giving me a ton of html problems though - so, arg.

Was it borgmama10f5? Because she asked him on my behalf. So, I did indeed hear that! I was going to add the information to my timeline, but I wanted to get the backlot-fire pictures up first. :)

[strgazr04.livejournal.com]

wait what about the timeline? im confused. damn this hurricane. im missin all these updates not havin workin internet. tryin to get internet on my kindle rt now. feels like working with a pc from two decades ago lol.

cant believe about the fire. thank god no one was hurt. this could have been so much worse than just losin a set or two

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I just did a post about the timeline. Though I'll repeat the information here in case it makes it easier for you: S6 should have taken place in 2011/2013, but instead it took place in 2010/2011. Kevin Parks said they did it on purpose, because they didn't want to have to push the dates forward for the rest of the shows run.

I'm glad you're alright after the hurricane! I hope you get internet working soon!

And yes, the fire could have been MUCH worse. It was a VERY concerning moment as we heard/saw it unfold this afternoon, but I'm thankful that all that was lost was a few sets.

[cappy712.livejournal.com]

Damn....

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[jensenlover89.livejournal.com]

Man this sucked! I can't believe that! Stupid Bollywood film!!! They don't deserve that set!!! I was so sad when he told us that!!! :(

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Well, in all fairness, Supernatural doesn't own the space...and we don't know what caused the fire.

[(Anonymous)]

@jensenlover89 i love your pics with jensen and jared on this post! cute :)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[raloria.livejournal.com]

Evelyn & I (along w/my mom) were there!!!!! We saw the smoke as we were over by Burnaby Foreshore Park, came over on Bryne and parked across the street & watched the thing burn for a couple of hours. We kept willing the firefighters to stop it before it got to the sets, but I guess that didn't quite happen. :(

We took lots of pictures and some video. I'll be posting mine a little later tonight.

Get this...Evelyn & I were walking around the corner those buildings that caught on fire, literally less than an hour before it happened. o.O

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Crazy! I'm sure you had a similar reaction to me upon seeing it (or in my case, hearing about it).

[raloria.livejournal.com]

The 2 of us couldn't believe what we were seeing. Flames leaping from the top of the building with a huge column of black smoke! It was a sight to see!

I wish the firefighters had arrived quicker. Evelyn & my mom saw the smoke long before we got close to it (about 15 min) and by the time we got close to it, they arrived about another 5 - 10 min. later). There must have been 5 or 6 firetrucks in all. People all around us were taking pics and videotaping it.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Odd, I wonder why they were so slow. It's a shame, but at least they were able to contain it a little.

[raloria.livejournal.com]

We saw it on the news in our hotel room from CTV. Apparently workers were cutting up scrap metal and somehow sparked the fire. They tried to put it out themselves before calling for help. There was also a broken gas main that further fed the flames and they had to break through the ground with a back-hoe to shut it off.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Makes sense...people always waste time trying to put out fires themselves. It's for some reason more instinctual than calling for help right away (like they should). I'm glad no one was hurt.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Holy crap!

I really hope they can fix it.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

By the way Russ was talking, it sounded like they wouldn't bother fixing it. But who knows.

It was certainly an eventful day. :P

Well, this sucks! >__<

[xpandora88x.livejournal.com]

OMG, NO!! I hope no one was hurt or anything, seeming that no one was inside, but still. Aww, that's so sad. =[ I hope they'll rebuild it to seemingly look like the shops there, like the bar and the pizzeria, ect. I wonder how it caught on fire in the first place while that small Bollywood production was filming there at the time. =/ Damn! Why couldn't that production team care for the backlot like Supernatural does?! I believe if they did, this could of been prevented! I swear, sometimes I think we get kicked in the jewels when we don't deserve it. Hopefully not much damage has been done so Supernatural can resume filming there.

Re: Well, this sucks! >__<

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It looks like it was a welding accident. No one was hurt.

I think other productions don't care as much, because they might not ever use it again...whereas Supernatural uses it very frequently, so they are more invested in its upkeep.

[shadwrayvn.livejournal.com]

Damn thats sucks! I hope no one was hurt but Jesus it sucks that not every production crew cares for lots the same. Attitudes like that screw over the shows & crews that do.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I added a bit from the news. No one was hurt, it appears to have been caused by an accident while a production was building sets.

But I agree, it just makes sense for other productions to be considerate to those that may come after them.

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

That's unfortunate. I hope no one is injured in the fire!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Just added a news report to my own report - no one was injured. It looks like a welder accidentally ruptured a gas line.

[dragonlit.livejournal.com]

That's terrible news but good that no one was hurt. As Russ said in his panel though, he enjoys all the challenges and I'm sure he'll find something else that will work if they can't use the site. Thanks for the pics and update.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, Russ remained very positive after the phone call. I was really impressed with the way he handled everything today. He really is very good at his job and a capable professional. I doubt that Supernatural will suffer much because of this.

[morganslady.livejournal.com]

Geez,I'm glad no one was hurt! On Thurs tour we talked about the fire that happend in Bordertown a while ago,how weird..

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

We had just talked in the morning about how you couldn't film movies about New York in Vancouver until Watchmen built all those brownstones...so, um, sad that they may have just burnt down.

[ilovesn.livejournal.com]

WOAH! that sucks so much but atleast no one was hurt.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It could have been a lot worse.

[msninacat.livejournal.com]

Crazy! I'm gonna be selfish and hope it doesn't mess with our show too much. But knowing how awesome the crew is makes me confident that it won't. Glad no one got hurt. Thanks for the info! You made it on twitter twice as an info source today. XD

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

After seeing first hand the way Russ handled the situation, I don't think we have anything to worry about. :)

Twice!? I feel like CNN. I only saw the SuperWiki tweet myself.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

!!!!!

Holy crap!

Your opinion of Russ' reaction is reassuring, though!

[nic]

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting this.

(Also, we met at the party last night although I was a little drunk, sorry!)

[cordelia-gray.livejournal.com]

Oh no! That's terrible /O\

I'm glad noone was hurt, but I know a lot of productions used that lot.

[dairygirl.livejournal.com]

Official location tour? Is that separate from the convention? Not only do you sit close to the location manager for Supernatural but you hear him receive a call about a lot fire? Does this happen a lot in Vancouver? At least no one was injured, thank goodness.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It's part of the convention. They pay Russ Hamilton (the location manager) to organize and guide a little tour on Thursday and Monday for about ~50 fans. Tickets are expensive, but I think they are worth it if you are interested in the behind the scenes stuff on on the show.

And yeah, I wasn't expecting to be the one of the first people to get the news! So, um, no, this doesn't happen a lot in Vancouver...it was a very uncommon day for me, I assure you. :P

[amber1960.livejournal.com]

Well that made your excursion extra memorable! It's good to know nobody was injured and how interesting to have a load of fans on hand to see how the wonderful crew of SPN react in emergency situations. These guys are so resourceful, I guess they will just go back to how it was before they had use of that permanent set. Wonder if we'll see some old favourite locations making a slightly made over reappearance.....
Thanks to you and Raloria for the reports!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It definitely made my excursion memorable. I thought it was pretty amazing to watch how Russ reacted the situation. I was very impressed.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I'm glad no one was hurt, and glad that we had our onsite reporter present. :)

If gas and gaslines were involved, they're lucky that it was only part of the set. I hope the damage is mostly cosmetic.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ha, thanks.

I think the part of the set that burned, burned completely. I'm just hoping that there was only cosmetic damage to the rest (if not no damage at all.)

[4422shini.livejournal.com]

Ha! I was driving through Burnaby and was seriously delayed because of traffic from the fire. I had NO idea that it was the studio though. Shiiiiiiat!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, crazy, eh!

I wish I could call Russ and ask him what the extent of the damage ended up being. I could drive by and have a look myself, but I'm not sure what that portion looked like before, so that wouldn't tell me that much. :P