The Aardman fire: appliance’s fault

Investigators said Friday they have ruled out arson as the cause of a fire in Bristol, England, that destroyed the archive of Wallace & Gromit creator Aardman Animations.

The Oct. 10 blaze, which began in a ground-floor office of the animator’s Victorian warehouse, resulted from an electrical fault in an appliance, they said. Hundreds of sets, props and models from the company’s animated clay films were destroyed.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Bill Feeley said the devastation could have been avoided if the building had been equipped with a sprinkler system.