BLOOMINGDALE, Ill. — A driver told investigators she thought she was hitting the brake when she hit the gas pedal and crashed into a Chase Bank Friday evening in Bloomingdale.

The driver also hit a gas line at the bank in the 100 block of East Lake Street.

As of Friday evening, the gas company was working to turn off the gas to the building.

The driver said there was an explosion after she was able to get out of the car.

“Thank God no one else was in the bank at that time or no one was in close proximity,” Frank Giammarese, the director of public safety for Bloomingdale police, said. “So we were lucky with the time aspect and no one was seriously hurt.”

Giammarese said it could take hours to get the gas turned off and the fire extinguished.

“They’re going to have to dig five or six feet into the ground to shut this gas line off,” Giammarese said. “They’re going to keep water on it until the gas line is shut off.”

Gene Carsello saw the fire at his long-time bank on the news and rushed out to see what was happening for himself.

He has a safe deposit box with very important items inside.

“I got my DD 214 Army papers in there, my wife’s birth certificate and she’s from an island near Okinawa and we went all the way over there to get the birth certificate so that would be a problem,” Carsello said.

Others with valuables inside are hopeful the deposit boxes are safe, but are worried.

“That’s what I don’t know,” Kashif Butt said. “I’m hoping that some Chase rep is going to come here to tell us if there’s going to be any interruption of the services or when we’ll be able to look at our deposits and things like that.”