Two Suspicious Fires At Tulsa Financial Institution Under Investigation

Tulsa firefighters were able to quickly put out a two small fires outside the Tulsa Municipal Employees Credit Union building in west Tulsa early Tuesday.

The credit union is located in the 1100 block of West 17th Street, across the street from the OSU Health Sciences building. 

One fire was outside a window, the other involved the night deposit box. There was quite a bit of smoke damage and the fire broke through glass in a window.

Firefighters say there was a strong smell of gas when they arrived, and they saw flames coming from the night dropbox and in front of window.

Fire investigators say they believe someone used gasoline to set the fires, but they will look at video from cameras outside the building and piece together the details.

"It's unusual to make a fire at a bank like this in the middle of the night, so that's another factor that led us to believe it might be arson," said Fire Equipment Operator Travis Barnes, Tulsa Fire Department.

Bank managers said the fire forced them to close the lobby so federal investigators can come out to investigate. Customers are being sent to the credit union's other two locations.

They say no one was hurt and there was limited damage to the credit union building.