About 2pm today, fire, aid and law enforcement responded to a report of a car into a building in the Ferndale Station retail center. The vehicle somehow ended up perpendicular in the drive-up lane at Wells Fargo Bank, backing into a bank of natural gas regulators. The aroma of natural gas was thick in the air even on the opposite side of the building.
According to witnesses, a number of people sprang into action helping get the two occupants out of the vehicle and clearing the immediate area. Traffic was already being detoured around the area by the time law enforcement arrived.
The driver was treated for minor injuries, some of that treatment having been provided by staff at the Sonic Drive-In before aid units arrived. Other people took positions directing traffic away from the invisible gas cloud and clearing adjacent buildings.
According to bank staff, a couple tellers went to investigate the source of the thud they heard against their building. The whooshing noise that followed was initially thought to be water until they discovered the gas meters that the car had backed into. Once they identified the source, they began evacuating the bank branch and notifying emergency services
Fire units were able to clear the scene about 3:15pm while Cascade Natural Gas crews worked to repair the damage.