The new Mapleton offices belonging to filmmaker Richard Dutcher burned Thursday morning, destroying several copies of “God’s Army” and “States of Grace.”
The fire was reported at 7:25 a.m. at the building on East Maple Street. The building, formerly a city-county government building, adjoins the Mapleton Volunteer Fire Department.
No one was injured in the blaze.
Fire fighters were able to contain the fire to the rear part of the building and there’s little smoke damage to the rest of the structure, said Assistant Mapleton Fire Chief Derald Olsen. The fire department’s building was not damaged.
Olsen said the fire started in a pile of oil rags used on the tongue-and-groove ceiling in the old council chambers. It was spontaneous combustion, he said; the rags were not allowed to air out, and in that situation internal heat builds up to an “auto-ignition point.”
Dutcher relocated to the Mapleton building from downtown Provo on March 18.
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