Spontaneous combustion was the source of a small fire in Mario’s Restaurant early Thursday morning. 

The call came into to dispatch at 1:46 a.m. Bonners Ferry Fire Chief Pat Warkentin said it was the perfect storm for spontaneous heating and ignition to take place.

Mario DeLeon who recently bought the restaurant formerly known as Alberto’s, was woken up by the smoke detector and saw smoke coming from the kitchen area.

According to Warkentin, the staff had done a load of laundry consisting of  towels and rags used to clean up the restaurant after closing time. 

Warkentin said it was likely the towels still had cooking oil residue and this with the phosphates from the laundry detergent and heat all contributed to the incident.

DeLeon told Warkentin that after the load was finished drying the towels were placed in a pile on top of the washing machine. Warkentin said with the fuel residue that remained on the towels and the heat remaining in the middle of the pile caused the towels to start smoldering. 

DeLeon called 911 then went to where the smoke was coming from and discovered the towels smoldering on the washer and he knocked them on to the floor which added oxygen and ignited the towels.

There was minimal damage burning both the top of the washer and the linoleum floor.  But not enough damage to close the restaurant, they opened for regular business hours Thursday.