Evidence from this week's suspected arson attack on the Memorial Union's wall of ATMs will be turned over to a federal agency today (Aug. 6), a campus police detective said.

Detective Sgt. Paul Henoch also said he had reviewed surveillance video, but, at this time he is not releasing any information about what he saw on the video.

The evidence, he said, is going to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

No arrests had been made in the Aug. 2 attack on the automated teller machines on the east side of the MU. Police said earlier that a Molotov cocktail may have been used. No money was taken.

As of this morning, all of the ATMs — including Bank of America's — were up and running.

The morning of the fire, as police investigated, the Bank of America ATM appeared to have sustained the most damage. The blackened top panel, with the bank’s logo, lay on the ground in front of the machine.

Scorch marks also showed on the Golden 1 Credit Union ATM — and, in fact, if you look closely toiday, you can still see the damage at the top of the machine.

There was no visible scorching to the USE Credit Union ATM, as if the arsonist or arsonists had targeted the Golden 1 and Bank of America ATMs on either side of the USE machine.

Police said an accelerant may have been used. The bottom half of a broken bottle lay some 75 feet away from the ATMs; an evidence marker sat beside the bottle, labeling it No. 14.

Other evidence markers marked more glass all around the ATM area. Fire inspector Greg Paul said the evidence pointed to several bottles.

Groundskeeper Tyson Mantor called in the fire at 5:45 a.m. He had been working about a block away, blowing leaves near the corner of East Quad and North Quad avenues, across from Hickey Pool.

“I smelled something really funny, a real strong, funny smell,” he said.

At first he thought it might have been the gas-powered motor on the blower backpack he was wearing.

He said he looked toward the MU and saw smoke. As he walked closer, “I saw flames on the left-hand side and top of the red ATM (Bank of America).”

“They were big,” he said, pointing out the scorch marks on the ceiling about two feet above the ATM.

Mantor said a trash collector grabbed a fire extinguisher from his truck and started to douse the flames. Police officer Bill Beerman arrived, took the extinguisher from the trash collector, and finished putting out the fire.

Upon the Fire Department’s arrival, firefighters forced open the access door behind the wall of ATMs, to see if the fire had broken through. Indeed, the fire left scorch marks around the Bank of America and Golden 1 machines, Henoch said.

Second suspcious fire in three months

The incident came three months after the early-morning fire that destroyed the Cargo Coffee Co. kiosk outside King Hall. Officials attributed the April 30 fire to arson, and forwarded evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Hennoch said this week that the results were not yet back.

The federal lab also is assisting in the investigation of a suspicious object found a day later at the Cargo Coffee kiosk outside Olson Hall.

That call came in at about 5:30 p.m. May 1, a Saturday. Authorities briefly evacuated six buildings in the vicinity, affecting six people.

The Yolo County Bomb Squad used a robot to examine the device, eventually rendering it safe. Nevertheless, police said the object had the potential to cause a fire similar to one that destroyed the King Hall kiosk.

Cargo Coffee also owns and operates a kiosk between Engineering III and Academic Surge.