House fire kills 3 students

An off-campus house fire Saturday morning killed three IU students and left one student severely injured.\nMonroe County Coroner David Toumey said juniors Jacob Surface and Joseph Alexander, both 21, died Saturday in Bloomington.\nSophomore Nicolas Habicht, 20, died Sunday afternoon following continued critical condition status while on life support at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\nHabicht and junior Paul Dayment, 21, were flown by Lifeline from Bloomington Hospital to Methodist Hospital Saturday morning. \nA hospital spokeswoman said Dayment had improved from serious but stable condition Saturday night to fair condition Sunday afternoon.\nPreliminary findings by the coroner's office indicate Surface and Alexander may have died from carbon monoxide intoxication. Final determinations will take four to six weeks pending the results of the toxicology testing, Toumey said.\nAlexander was pronounced dead upon arrival at 6:04 a.m. to Bloomington Hospital. Surface, who was a sports writer for the Indiana Daily Student, was pronounced dead at the scene by Toumey at 6:55 a.m. Habicht died at 1:45 p.m. Sunday. The final determination as to the cause of his death will be made by the Marion County Coroner's office in four to six weeks.\nBloomington Fire Chief Jeff Barlow said firefighters received a call around 4:55 a.m. Saturday and were immediately dispatched. They arrived at the house within two minutes, found the four men in rapid succession and extinguished a small fire on the first floor.\nSurface was found on the first floor. The other three were found in the second-story bedrooms.\nThe house, located at 719 N. Indiana Ave., near 11th Street, sustained little exterior damage, but had significant smoke and heat damage internally, Barlow said. Neighbors reported seeing very little in the early hours. Initial reports show the fire appeared to be electrical.\nBarlow said the home had smoke detectors and investigators will try to determine whether the alarms sounded.\nAlexander, Dayment and Habicht were roommates in the house. Surface lived with junior Heath Johnson and sophomore Michael Beck in another house near campus.\nThe cause of the fire remains under investigation. Barlow said the process would be very deliberate and methodical and said he hoped they would know "sooner rather than later."\nThe four men grew up together and maintained their close ties at IU. They were all graduates of Center Grove High School near Greenwood, Ind.\nThe deaths are the first fire fatalities involving IU students since a graduate student died as a result of a fire at his off-campus apartment in December 2002.\n-- Contact opinion editor Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu .