A huge fire which hit Universal Studios in Los Angeles was probably started accidentally by workers using heating tools on a film set.
The blaze broke out in a part of the studio complex containing exteriors used to resemble a New York City streetscape.
It reduced a two-city-block area of the lot to ashes and burned through much of the adjacent famous Courthouse Square set which film fans will recognise from Back to the Future and To Kill a Mockingbird.
A popular King Kong attraction featured in the Universal Studios Theme Park tram tour was also destroyed along with a warehouse where thousands of copies of archived TV shows and films were stored.
Studio officials said all of the material lost in the video vault could be replaced.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said an investigation revealed the fire was accidentally started by three members of a studio work crew who had been using a blow torch to apply asphalt shingles to the roof of a building facade.
They finished their work at about 3am on Sunday morning and stood watch for an hour, according to company policy.
Seeing no signs of a fire, they left the scene for a break, but a security guard in the vicinity noticed flames about 45 minutes later and called the fire department.
The fire, which burned for about 18 hours, forced authorities to close the theme park for the day but it has now reopened.
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