Fire at Orem apartment building causes $1M in damage


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OREM — Fire investigators believe an early morning fire at an apartment complex under construction Friday was the result of arson.

Arson investigators found indicators that accelerants were used.

The two-alarm fire began about 1:30 a.m. while Orem firefighters were already working a small fire at a gas station pump that was suspicious in nature, said Orem Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Peterson.

"Our crews were initially on another incident in close proximity and timewise to this that we believe may be connected to this incident," he said.

Those firefighters could see the glow from a fire at 875 N. State. They arrived to find several buildings of an apartment complex under construction on fire. Because of how fast the structure burned, the fire was immediately considered suspicious, according to investigators.

Crews from Provo and Orem needed about an hour to extinguish the fire.

Investigators later detected an accelerant had been used on the fire and labeled it as arson.

Early estimates were the structure suffered about $1 million damage.

Over the summer, Provo police and fire crews investigated a series of arson-related structure fires. There was no immediate word whether Friday's incident might be related.

Contributing: Nicole Vowell

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