House of Wax Becomes Melted Wax

Hundreds of Gaven residents drove their cars to the theme park precinct and traffic stopped on the Pacific Motorway after the blaze started just after 6.30pm.Several explosions rocked the area as the walls on the most southerly studio began to collapse.

Police put up road blocks to prevent onlookers from getting too close to the blaze and declared the precinct an emergency area.

"We can't let anyone get any closer. We're not sure about what sort of gases are coming out," a police officer said.

More than 50 firemen from 11 crews continued to fight the blaze at 8pm, with extra pumps on the way from Brisbane. An ambulance crew remained on standby despite no one needing treatment.Ashes from the burnt-out studio were landing on cars parked 400m from the fire, one of them owned by 20-year-old Melbourne tourist Nick Stambank.

"We were driving back along the highway from Brisbane and we could see it glowing through its roof," said Mr Stambank.

"As the fire broke through the roof, there was the biggest explosion. One side of the wall began collapsing."A police spokesman said they were not aware of anyone being injured in the blaze.

It could not be determined whether the sound stage was the one being used to film the Paris Hilton horror flick House of Wax. A spokeswoman for Warner said executives were still assessing the damage.The theme park is no stranger to real-life dramas. In December last year, a blaze caused up to $1 million damage to one of Movie World's most popular rides, the Wild West Ride.

In February last year, three Movie World pyrotechnics experts received "varying degrees" of burns to 80 per cent of their bodies in an explosion.

Source: News.com.au