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Chase RCMP seek vehicle connected to fire at bank

Security cameras captured a grey or silver hatchback leaving the area
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Chase RCMP are searching for a a grey or silver hatchback, similar in style to a newer-model Honda Civic which was spotted by security cameras leaving the scene of the fire at the Chase RBC branch. (Chase RCMP Photo)

-Kamloops This Week

Mounties are looking for information on a car seen driving right by the Royal Bank in Chase when it exploded in flames on Sunday, Aug. 12.

Chase RCMP Cpl. Scott Linklater said security cameras in the area captured a grey or silver hatchback, similar in style to a newer-model Honda Civic, leaving the area immediately after the fire began.

Linklater said Mounties want to speak with the occupants of the vehicle or anyone who may have information regarding the car. Those with information can call 250-679-3221.

Emergency crews were called to the bank just after 4 a.m. on Aug. 12 and found the ATM vestibule fully engulfed in flames.

Related:Shuswap bank destroyed by fire

“Flames were shooting out of the window by the ATM machine,” Chase fire chief Brian Lauzon said, adding firefighters attacked the blaze aggressively and managed to knock it down before it devoured the floor above. “It almost went into the second floor. It started burning the carpet in the lawyer’s office upstairs, and we knocked it down before it got worse.”

Lauzon said the point of origin was the front entrance at 746 Shuswap Ave., where the automatic teller machine is located.

Lauzon said it will be months before the building will be operational.

“There are a lot of structural components that need to be reinforced,” he said. “Basically, the whole bank will have to be rebuilt with all the smoke and water damage.”

No one was injured in the blaze.


@SalmonArm
jim.elliot@saobserver.net

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Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
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