A Benton County man is in critical condition after his car plowed into an office building in Richland Tuesday night.

Richland Fire crews were called out to a report of a commercial building fire just before 9:00pm Tuesday, and it wasn't until they got on scene and started putting water on the flames that the realized there was an SUV inside the building.

Someone called 911 to report that heavy smoke was coming from the building at 1030 Jadwin, near Jimmy John's.

Richland Fire Chief Tom Huntington says firefighters didn't realize until after they knocked down most of the fire that the driver was still in the car.

"Once they realized that the driver was inside, the removed the driver," Huntington said. "I'm told that he appeared to be in serious condition."

The man, identified as Robert Scott, 60, was rushed to Kadlec Medical Center to be treated for his injuries.

His information hasn't been released.

No one was in the office building at the time of the crash.

Officials say they don't know what caused the driver to lose control of the SUV and crash into the building.

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