UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- One of Hollywood's largest movie studios starred in a disastrous sequel Sunday, as a fire ripped through a lot at Universal Studios, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," a King Kong exhibit and a streetscape seen frequently in movies and TV shows.

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Eleven hours after the blaze broke out, an explosion inside a burning videotape warehouse injured a firefighter and a sheriff's deputy, officials said.

Officials said that bulldozers had been removing burning debris from the warehouse and opening it up for streams of water when something blew up. The dozer crews were ordered to pull back and ambulances were being readied to take the two victims to burn units at nearby hospitals.

A bulldozer "ran across something in the video vault, and something exploded," a county fire inspector told KFWB. The inspector said the injuries were minor.

City paramedics have reported via fire radios that a female sheriff's deputy suffered a head injury and was blown off her feet, and rolled ten feet down an embankment, when an explosion rocked the burning videotape vault at Universal Studios. That deputy was reported to be conscious and alert, but had her spine strapped down and was rushed to a hospital.

Earlier Sunday, eight firefighters had suffered minor injuries, as one of the longest-running building fires in Los Angeles history flared for more than 11 hours.

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It was the second fire at the historic site in nearly two decades, leveling facades, hollowing out buildings and creating the kind of catastrophe filmmakers relish re-creating. This time around, thousands of videos chronicling Universal's movie and TV shows were destroyed in the blaze.

But Universal officials said that they were thankful no one was seriously injured at the theme park and that the damaged footage can be replaced.

"We have duplicates of everything," said NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer. "Nothing is lost forever."

The blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades around 4:30 a.m. at the 400-acre property, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. The fire was contained to the lot, but about 400 firefighters were still trying to put it out several hours later.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars.

The iconic courthouse square from "Back to the Future" was destroyed, and the famous clock tower that enabled Michael J. Fox's character to travel through time was damaged, fire officials said. Two mock New York and New England streets used both for movie-making and as tourist displays were a total loss, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Darryl Jacobs said.

An exhibit housing a mechanically animated King Kong that bellows at visitors on a tram also was destroyed.

All three sites were either damaged or destroyed during another fire at Universal Studios in November 1990. That fire caused $25 million in damage and was started by a security guard who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to arson.

The park remained closed Sunday afternoon as hundreds of visitors waited outside the gates, where acrid smoke lingered. Fire officials didn't believe air quality would pose a health hazard to the public. On a typical weekend day, about 25,000 people visit Universal Studios.

Mike Herrick of San Diego watched the fire on television from his hotel before deciding to return to Universal Studios for a second day with his wife.

"By gosh, we're going to go and get whatever we can out of it," Herrick said. On Saturday, Herrick rode the tram that winds around the studio lot, snapping photos of the King Kong attraction, among other sights.

The fire broke out along New York Street, where firefighting helicopters swept in for drops and cranes dumped water on the flames. A thick column of smoke rose thousands of feet into the air and could be seen for miles.

"It looked like a disaster film," said Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

At one point the blaze was two city blocks wide, and low water pressure forced firefighters to get reserves from lakes and ponds on the property. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.

"The water pressure situation was a challenge," Freeman said. "This fire moved extremely fast."

Meyer estimated there were 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels in a video vault that burned but said duplicates were stored in a different location. Firefighters managed to recover hundreds of titles.

The videos included every film that Universal has produced and footage from television series including "Miami Vice" and "I Love Lucy."

Universal Studios, nine miles north of downtown Los Angeles, has thrill rides and a back lot where movies and television shows are filmed, including scenes from "War of the Worlds," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Scrubs."

The fire will not affect the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, which is to broadcast live Sunday night from the Gibson Amphitheatre in the adjacent Universal CityWalk, according to the music network.

Blaze Reminiscent Of Costly 1990 Fire

Sunday's inferno at Universal City is burning many of the same back lot areas destroyed by a disastrous blaze in 1990.

Studio Lot Online

In that blaze, gale-force Santa Ana winds whipped flames through the New York Street, the set used for the film "Ben-Hur," and most of the Courthouse Square facades used for "Back To The Future" and other films.

Damage was estimated at more than $50 million, and an elaborate reconstruction project took several years to rebuild the sets.

A security guard with a cigarette lighter deliberately set the 1990 fire, according to officials.