The Los Pinos Fire Department responded to a report of smoke inside Red Willow Production Company's office building in Ignacio on Friday evening, March 24. It was blamed on a failed electric motor.

Custodians working in the building notified emergency responders after seeing smoke in the first-floor conference room about 6 p.m. Friday.

Emergency responders evacuated the building. They then determined that a failed electric motor had caused a fan coil unit to overheat. That in turn caused some connecting wires to melt and smoke. No flames were seen by any of the responders, and the electric motor was taken out of service. Los Pinos Fire Chief Tom Aurnhammer allowed employees back in the building at about 8 p.m.

The Southern Ute Growth Fund is conducting an investigation into what caused the electric motor to fail.

Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, Durango Fire and Rescue and the Southern Ute Police Department, employees from the Southern Ute Growth Fund, Red Willow Production Company and two members of the Southern Ute Tribal Council also immediately responded to the incident.

The Southern Ute Growth Fund and Red Willow Production Company would like to thank the alert custodians at La Plata Cleaning, as well as all of the agencies that responded.