Fire at the National Bank: the fire has not affected the safety deposit boxes, but they will not be able to open them yet – 29/07/2018

"We have the dream of rebuilding the iconic building and one of the most beautiful in the country," Banco Nación President Javier González Fraga said on Sunday in Bahía Blanca about the main branch of the city, Saturday. burned for seven hours and suffered serious damage . He said that the incident "is very painful" for the institution, but saved that did not cause casualties, while ruling out intentionality. The head of the entity met the employees at the banking union headquarters and then held a meeting with Mayor Hector Gay in his office, located 150 meters from the fire site.

The Nation Owner brought peace of mind to the bank 's clients on the scale of the incident. " Nothing has been lost, neither the value of the security boxes nor the documentation All this will be rebuilt and there is no procedure to lose", badures González Fraga

He adds that all the credits are in progress ] will be redirected although it admit that there will be delays to return to normal operations. For example, until the judge who intervenes in the event and the firefighters determine it, access to the building in general and in particular to the sector of the safes will not be authorized . Since yesterday, the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians remains cut along the first blocks of streets Estomba and Moreno.

González Fraga thanked the work of the fire brigade, the Civil Protection and the police, who came to fight the incident. before 5 am in the dome of the building which will be 100 years old in 2022 and belongs to the founding block of Bahía Blanca, an area declared historical heritage. It also operates provincial courts, Correo, Radio Nacional, Aduana Library and Rivadavia.

The fire could not be controlled around noon, after the work of a dozen endowments and the use of 39, a single crane to access the roof from where the flames came. "There are experts working and we suspect that this has to do with the boiler or with the electrical installation .For the moment any intentionality is excluded," said the president Banco Nación on the origin of the flames and its expansion inside the building, where he affected the archives and the upper floor, from where the masonry and central dome parts ., where customers go.

The president of Banco Nación also said that they still had no opportunity to enter the damaged building and will await the opinion of the architects and engineers to determine if reconstruction is possible. "At first glance, we think it and hope that what happened in a few months is a bad memory and nothing else", added the official

At the attention of the public tomorrow, three mobiles were installed on Rivadavia Square, in front of the bank's headquarters, which will operate for consultations and ATMs.

The flaming building staff will be sent to four other branches that the Nation has in Bahía Blanca and tomorrow they will open their doors at 10 am, but they will extend the hours of service, at least, until 39. at 17. "We know that there is a lot of anxiety on the part of customers and we want to contain it," said Ezequiel Ball, area manager

.e, González Fraga revealed "They have received offers from city center rooms in the city to provide banking services there during the emergency." We prioritize the normalization of the operation and as soon as possible the reconstruction of the building ", added the president of the bank

Bahía Blanca Correspondent