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NORTH SALT LAKE — A fire caused significant damage Wednesday night to a charitable foundation in North Salt Lake, only two weeks before the foundation planned to leave for an international volunteering trip.
Employees at a neighboring business smelled smoke and saw the flames at the Charity Anywhere Foundation warehouse on Taylor Way in North Salt Lake, then called 911. It took 36 firefighters to put out the fire, which did $100,000 in damage.
Gordon Carter, founder of Charity Anywhere, said he stopped by the warehouse Wednesday at about 8 p.m. to drop off several donated dentist chairs. He said he is afraid he caused the fire.
"I think I bumped something that might have fallen onto the light and that's what started it," he said, referring to the light he leaves on in the back room to deter thieves.
Carter surveyed the damage in the warehouse on Thursday morning, his heart heavy as he stood surrounded by broken glass and burnt office supplies. He said he did not sleep Wednesday night, too concerned the supplies donated for his group's upcoming trip had been destroyed.
Most of the damage was done to his office, though, and not to the donated supplies.
"There might be a little bit of smoke on it, but we can live with that," he said. "There were some things I had designated to send, but we have other things in the main warehouse to where I can replace that."
Carter said the upcoming trips — first to Mexico, then to India and later Guatemala — will proceed as planned.
Charity Anywhere's portion of the building is the only area with fire damage, although there is significant roof damage. Five other businesses or storage facilities have smoke damage, according to authorities.
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