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Fire snakes on Desperation set
5 hurt, 2,000 evacuated in TCC fire; crews battle blaze, rattlesnakes
C.T. REVERE and ERIC SAGARA
Tucson Citizen
It was a scene right out of a Stephen King movie.
Tucson Fire Capt. Dave Childress charged into a Tucson Convention Center exhibit hall last night knowing he had to fight a fire in a smoke-filled room populated by rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions.
"We actually heard about the snakes right as we went in," Childress said, his grinning face streaked with soot and sweat. "It raised our level of concern."
The fire broke out during filming of a scene from the coming television movie "Desperation," based on a 1996 novel by horror master Stephen King. About 2,000 people were evacuated and five were injured.
Six rattlers and the other critters were uncaged for filming in TCC's North Exhibit Hall about 7:30 p.m. All were accounted for later.
Childress manned the nozzle on the first hose into the hall, with both fire and snakes on his mind.
"There was no visibility," he said. "There was smoke all the way down to the floor. It slowed us down because we had to watch the floor and the fire. The last thing you want to do is meet face to face with a scared snake."
None of the more than 60 firefighters who answered the call encountered the serpents, Childress said.
Three people working the movie set suffered burns on their hands and faces, said Deputy Fire Chief Randy Ogden. They were treated at hospitals and the burns were not serious, he said.
One person inside TCC had bumps and bruises from falling and another was treated for smoke inhalation, he said.
About 2,000 people, including about 1,200 country music fans waiting for the start of a performance by singer Keith Urban, were quickly evacuated from the lower level of the center at 100 S. Church Ave., Ogden said.
A Tucson Symphony Orchestra concert also was scheduled for last night. The Urban concert cancellation caused country music fans to sing the blues.
"We wanted to cry," said Christie Autenrieth, a 17-year-old junior at Mountain View High School, who was.
She and two friends had $35 floor seats near the stage. They were forced to abandon them 30 minutes before the show was to start.
"It started getting smoky, but we thought it was the smoke machines (for the show)," she said.
Then Autenrieth saw black smoke pouring from ventilation ducts.
"As the smoke got worse, we doubted (the concert) was going to happen," she said.
Tommy Obermaier, TCC's deputy director, said the evacuation was swift and successful.
"The entire facility was evacuated in a matter of minutes and everybody is accounted for," he said.
The fire apparently started in a foam movie set designed to look like a mine shaft, Ogden said.
"There was a big ball of fire and a lot of smoke," he said.
The fire's cause and the extent of damage, restricted mostly to the set and movie equipment, were not known, Ogden said.
The three-alarm fire - 21 firefighting vehicles and 63 firefighters were called out - directly across South Church Avenue from the downtown fire station was controlled within an hour.
Sprinklers inside the TCC Arena, where the concert was set to begin, and inside the hall-turned-sound stage, helped reduce flames, Ogden said.
Refunds will be arranged for concert-goers, and the center plans to reschedule the Urban show, Obermaier said. Contact TCC at 791-4101 for information.
Hundreds of people watched from the lawn east of the convention center until smoke from the blaze chased them off.
Ogden said the center suffered no apparent structural damage.
Some meetings scheduled at the center for today likely will be canceled, but no other ticketed events scheduled for the venue should be affected, Obermaier said.
Production of "Desperation" has filled the 24,180-square-foot exhibit hall since Oct. 27.
Several sets were constructed there. On Nov. 30, filming closed a block of Congress Street, which was turned into a scene from war-torn Vietnam.
Kate Calhoun, the center's sales and marketing director, and Tucson Film Office Director Shelli Hall expressed hope that filming would bring more movie production efforts to the center, Tucson and southern Arizona.
"Desperation" tells of a good-versus-evil battle in the haunted mining town of Desperation, Nev.
The film's cast includes Henry Thomas (one of the kids from "E.T."), Tom Skerritt (of "Top Gun" and "A River Runs Through It") and Ron Perlman, (from the 1980s television series "Beauty and the Beast" and more recently "Hell Boy" and the voice of Lord Hood in the video game "Halo 2").
C.T. REVERE and ERIC SAGARA
Tucson Citizen
It was a scene right out of a Stephen King movie.
Tucson Fire Capt. Dave Childress charged into a Tucson Convention Center exhibit hall last night knowing he had to fight a fire in a smoke-filled room populated by rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions.
"We actually heard about the snakes right as we went in," Childress said, his grinning face streaked with soot and sweat. "It raised our level of concern."
The fire broke out during filming of a scene from the coming television movie "Desperation," based on a 1996 novel by horror master Stephen King. About 2,000 people were evacuated and five were injured.
Six rattlers and the other critters were uncaged for filming in TCC's North Exhibit Hall about 7:30 p.m. All were accounted for later.
Childress manned the nozzle on the first hose into the hall, with both fire and snakes on his mind.
"There was no visibility," he said. "There was smoke all the way down to the floor. It slowed us down because we had to watch the floor and the fire. The last thing you want to do is meet face to face with a scared snake."
None of the more than 60 firefighters who answered the call encountered the serpents, Childress said.
Three people working the movie set suffered burns on their hands and faces, said Deputy Fire Chief Randy Ogden. They were treated at hospitals and the burns were not serious, he said.
One person inside TCC had bumps and bruises from falling and another was treated for smoke inhalation, he said.
About 2,000 people, including about 1,200 country music fans waiting for the start of a performance by singer Keith Urban, were quickly evacuated from the lower level of the center at 100 S. Church Ave., Ogden said.
A Tucson Symphony Orchestra concert also was scheduled for last night. The Urban concert cancellation caused country music fans to sing the blues.
"We wanted to cry," said Christie Autenrieth, a 17-year-old junior at Mountain View High School, who was.
She and two friends had $35 floor seats near the stage. They were forced to abandon them 30 minutes before the show was to start.
"It started getting smoky, but we thought it was the smoke machines (for the show)," she said.
Then Autenrieth saw black smoke pouring from ventilation ducts.
"As the smoke got worse, we doubted (the concert) was going to happen," she said.
Tommy Obermaier, TCC's deputy director, said the evacuation was swift and successful.
"The entire facility was evacuated in a matter of minutes and everybody is accounted for," he said.
The fire apparently started in a foam movie set designed to look like a mine shaft, Ogden said.
"There was a big ball of fire and a lot of smoke," he said.
The fire's cause and the extent of damage, restricted mostly to the set and movie equipment, were not known, Ogden said.
The three-alarm fire - 21 firefighting vehicles and 63 firefighters were called out - directly across South Church Avenue from the downtown fire station was controlled within an hour.
Sprinklers inside the TCC Arena, where the concert was set to begin, and inside the hall-turned-sound stage, helped reduce flames, Ogden said.
Refunds will be arranged for concert-goers, and the center plans to reschedule the Urban show, Obermaier said. Contact TCC at 791-4101 for information.
Hundreds of people watched from the lawn east of the convention center until smoke from the blaze chased them off.
Ogden said the center suffered no apparent structural damage.
Some meetings scheduled at the center for today likely will be canceled, but no other ticketed events scheduled for the venue should be affected, Obermaier said.
Production of "Desperation" has filled the 24,180-square-foot exhibit hall since Oct. 27.
Several sets were constructed there. On Nov. 30, filming closed a block of Congress Street, which was turned into a scene from war-torn Vietnam.
Kate Calhoun, the center's sales and marketing director, and Tucson Film Office Director Shelli Hall expressed hope that filming would bring more movie production efforts to the center, Tucson and southern Arizona.
"Desperation" tells of a good-versus-evil battle in the haunted mining town of Desperation, Nev.
The film's cast includes Henry Thomas (one of the kids from "E.T."), Tom Skerritt (of "Top Gun" and "A River Runs Through It") and Ron Perlman, (from the 1980s television series "Beauty and the Beast" and more recently "Hell Boy" and the voice of Lord Hood in the video game "Halo 2").
Comments
A fire on the set of the Stephen King made for TV movie "Desperation" Friday night sent three people to the hospital with first and second degree burns.
Another three were injured trying to blaze a path out of the pandamonium.
"We had a near catastrophic event, I mean, this could have been terrible," said TFD Chief Randy Ogden.
On Saturday, movie crew members wore bandanas and surgical masks to cover their mouths from the smoke as they had their first chance to assess the damage.
Video taken by firefighters showed severe smoke and water damage inside certain parts of the TCC.
In all, two thousand people had to evacuated from the TCC Friday. Most were there for a country music concert that never got a chance to start.
They described the scene inside the arena. "It was just a thick white smoke, and then it got even worse as soon as you got further outside the building," said concert attendee Donald Pattie.
On Friday, firefighters were speculating that the fire could have been caused by an electrical problem, because no permits were given for pyrotechnic use on the set.
But officials say it could be a couple more days before they know for sure what sparked the fire.
"Our fire cause investigators are meeting with the stunt people, the camera people, the producer, people that were on set to try to recreate chronologically what happened," Ogden said.
Producers of "Desperation" used dust to fill the air as the movie production was releasing fake boulders in a mine-shaft collapse scene, said Randy Ogden, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman. The dust is one of several potential causes of Friday night's fire, which is still under investigation. Unlike the others, its use was unique to the movie and not a common material at fire scenes, Ogden said.
The fire forced the cancellation of a concert by Australian country star Keith Urban, whose fans had already filled the TCC arena.
The filming took place in the adjacent exhibition hall. The TCC's top official said Saturday that authorities don't know when production will resume on the TV movie, which has been shooting in Southern Arizona since November and was due to wrap up production in a few days. Producers and others connected with the film declined to discuss the fire Saturday.
"At this point, we don't know if the filming will continue" at the TCC, said Rich Singer, the center's director.
Ogden and other city officials praised not just how Fire Department officials responded to the blaze, but how producers and crew members of the ABC/Disney miniseries had dealt with fire and other safety issues before the blaze started.
The movie crews, with city fire marshals and other inspectors watching, followed all city recommendations for safety and fire prevention and they met local fire codes, said Ogden and Todd Sander, the city's chief information officer.
But if dust turns out to be the cause, the city should ban pyrotechnics or other potentially flammable materials at TCC movie and concert productions, said Councilman Jose Ibarra, whose Ward 1 is across the street from the center.
"We need to investigate this isolated incident and investigate what materials we used and make sure any dangerous materials are not used anymore," he said. "I am proud we have been aggressive in bringing the movie industry back to Tucson. I don't think this isolated incident should disrupt plans to bring in as many movies as we can."
The filmmakers were using two types of fine dust, one finer than the other, to produce two film effects, Ogden said. Walnut shell dust, which is heavier, drops more rapidly. The finer FX dust hangs in the air longer, he said.
Walnut dust came into use in recent years in the film industry as a substitute for another kind of dust, called fuller's earth, that was used for many years but is no longer considered safe to breathe, Ogden said. Fuller's earth has been linked to various lung diseases, including silicosis, in scientific studies.
Dust is a suspect because the fire started within seconds after filmmakers released the fake boulders and dust, Ogden said. Dust and air may have made a combustible mixture but investigators aren't certain yet and likely won't know until Monday or Tuesday, he said. Other potential suspects: candles, lights and other electrical equipment and flammable liquids.
Investigators will look at film or tapes that came from cameras and tape decks that were running when the fire broke out.
"We're looking at the same type of fire that would be caused in a grain mill explosion, a fire in the Midwest," Ogden said. "Sometimes if you get the right mixture of particles in the air, it becomes a flammable situation."
Friday night, a witness saw a "fiery boom" during a scene in a mine shaft with workers running screaming from a cave-in.
"I thought it was part of the scene at first, but it got bigger and the flames started getting higher," said Raymond Sanchez, an Orange Grove Middle School student who said he was watching the filming with his uncle, an electrician on the set.
Some people reacted calmly, but others started screaming, said Sanchez, who said he was about 20 feet from the scene and saw a man fall 12 feet from a platform.
Singer said the Keith Urban concert that had to be canceled because of the fire will be rescheduled, possibly this month, because his tour is just ending, said Singer, the TCC's director. An announcement is due by week's end. Typically, tickets are good for a rescheduled show, but refunds will be available at the point of purchase, he said.
A Friday-night party at the center was canceled and a Saturday event was postponed, but no other events will be affected, Singer said.
The fire destroyed or seriously damaged camera and sound equipment, computers, lights, fans and everything else in the movie set beyond repair, Ogden said. Smoke rose through the ceiling to leave behind soot-covered tables, computer printers and floors in TCC offices above the movie set. But in total the blaze damaged only 20 percent of the entire facility, Singer said.
City taxpayers also won't be on the hook for any damage repairs or ticket refunds because all TCC users have a million-dollar insurance policy that indemnifies the city from liability, Singer said.
Something right out of a Stephen King movie! ;D
The fire on the set of "Desperation," an ABC/Disney production, began in an exhibition hall adjacent to the TCC Arena. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The blaze began on the set of a mine-shaft-collapse scene that featured workers running out of the mine. Witnesses reported a sudden fire, followed by production workers shouting at actors to get off the set.
Three people suffered burns on their faces and upper bodies but were not seriously injured. They were taken to St. Mary's Hospital, where they were treated and released. Two other people had minor injuries from bumps and falls.
The production has been filming in Southern Arizona since November and was scheduled to finish in the next few days.
A concert by Australian country star Keith Urban in the adjacent arena was canceled as a result of the fire.
Health officials conducted tests on air inside the TCC this weekend to determine whether it was safe to work on the set. If the results, which should be in today, are favorable, filming will resume Wednesday, said Rich Singer, the center's director.
Production officials with the miniseries confirmed that shooting could resume Wednesday, but they would not comment further.
ABC planned to release a statement about the fire sometime today, said Michael McGinn, location manager with Touchstone Television.
Neither Singer nor McGinn could estimate the cost of damage to the TCC or the production set.
The fire destroyed lights, cameras and other production equipment. Smoke spread to the nearby arena and to upper floors containing offices and meeting rooms.
"We're already working on mitigating the smoke damages to the upper floors," Singer said.
The arena needs a thorough cleaning, Singer said, but he added that it should be ready for Friday's scheduled performance of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
"At this point, all our events here on out are going to go as planned," Singer said.
The Urban concert will be rescheduled, possibly to near the end of the month, Singer said. He hopes to have a date by the end of the week.
Tickets for Friday's show should be good for the rescheduled event, Singer said. Refunds will be available at the point of purchase.
Fire investigators worked over the weekend to determine the cause of the blaze but had yet to determine its source, said Deputy Chief Randy Ogden, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.
Numerous factors could have contributed to the fire. The set contained electrical equipment, lights and other items that could have started the blaze, Ogden said.
One possibility is dust used in the filming. Along with fake rocks, the special-effects dust was released into the air, which could have created a combustible mixture.
Investigators on Sunday were trying to determine if any footage shot during the blaze could be recovered and viewed, Ogden said.
All the workers present at the fire were being interviewed, he added.
Center Director Rich Singer said most damage was to the ceiling of the north exhibit hall, where film sets for the Stephen King television miniseries "Desperation" caught fire.
"That room is just covered with smoke and ash and suffered water damage as well," Singer said.
Meeting rooms and administrative offices above the hall sustained smoke damage, and the center's staff moved to offices above the main exhibit hall, he said.
Crews are cleaning smoke- and water-damaged areas. Singer said it's not clear how high the cost of cleanup could climb.
If carpets, floors and other items can't be cleaned and have to be replaced, that will push up costs.
"Our aim is to get all our areas up and running in two weeks, with the exception of the north exhibition hall," Singer said. "That could take a couple of months."
Singer said the hall would be ready for use during the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which starts Feb. 10 as part of the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase.
The damaged hall won't house exhibitors but will be used as a marshaling area for exhibitors in other halls.
"It doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to be habitable and functional," Singer said.
Shelli Hall, manager of the Tucson Film Office, said the fire shouldn't hurt the city's ability to attract other film productions.
"I don't think it hurts Tucson's film prospects because it was handled so well by all entities involved, including the production company, the city of Tucson and the Fire Department. When word gets around, it's going to get a positive spin to it," Hall said.
Tucson Fire Department Deputy Chief Randy Ogden said the cause is undetermined.
Investigators are studying the site and could reach a conclusion sometime this week, he said.
Singer said it appears repair costs will be covered by the film production company's insurance policy.
Filming is set to resume at the center today and is scheduled to wrap up Friday, Singer said.
Filming of the Stephen King-based, Mick Garris-directed TV production DESPERATION resumed Monday, December 13, after last Friday’s fire on the interior sets located in the lower level of the Tucson, AZ, Convention Center (see previous story here). Production moved for two days to the Old Tucson Studios to shoot scenes in the constructed back end of a Ryder truck owned by Tom Skerritt’s character (and driven by Steven Weber’s).
After the TCC was cleaned up and cleared for production, the DESPERATION team moved back there this past Wednesday and Thursday to film scenes on the Pirin Moh chamber and Ini pit sets that were not damaged by the three-alarm blaze. In the film, Tak, the ancient evil spirit, comes out into the world from the Pirin Moh when miners accidentally break into his cavern.
Because the mine shaft set melted and was completely destroyed in the accidental fire, it will have to be recreated for the remaining scenes of Chinese miners turning to madmen when encountering Tak’s stone totems in the late 1800s. This flashback sequence is being filmed in the style of a hand-cranked silent film, complete with title cards, and explains Tak’s origin and nature.
The production company, cast and crew go home today (Friday) from Tucson, and will complete those final needed DESPERATION scenes over "a day or two on a stage in Los Angeles, and that’s that," according to Garris. —Craig Chrissinger