Contents Of Bank Deposit Box Set Afire ‘Incendiary Device’ Used To Set Blaze

Using an “incendiary device,” someone set fire to the contents of a commercial bank deposit box in Post Falls early Saturday.

The Spokane County sheriff’s explosives unit removed “a small amount of partially burned material which may be some type of explosive,” according to Post Falls Police Lt. Rod Plank. He said it had not been identified.

Glenn Lauper, deputy Idaho state fire marshal, said investigators collected the deposited cash and checks as evidence.

“We were able to recover most of it, but there was some damage,” he said.

About 20 deposits from the previous two days were in the box, said Dan Ryan, Post Falls fire marshal.

Lauper said the depository was used mostly by local stores.

Thin envelopes could be slipped through a slot in the deposit box, but depositors needed a key to slip in larger items, Lauper said. Ryan said it wasn’t clear which slot was used to insert the incendiary device.

A state arson-detecting dog, Abbey, found petroleum distillates at the site, Lauper said. That class of chemicals includes gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel.

Authorities were alerted to the fire at 5:44 a.m., when someone called 911, reporting smoke. Six minutes later, the deposit box’s heat detector triggered another alarm.

Post Falls fire crews put out the fire, which was smoldering when they got there. There was no damage to the interior of the building, Ryan said.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sent an investigator from Spokane to help collect evidence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also was at the scene.

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