Fire case handed over to independent groups

The investigation into a house fire that killed three IU students in May is no longer with the Bloomington Fire Department but is now in the hands of independent investigators and insurance investigators, said Jennifer Lloyd, an attorney at the Bloomington Risk Management Division.\nNo major developments have been unearthed in the investigation of the May 22 fire so far, which killed juniors Jacob Surface and Joseph Alexander, both 21, and sophomore Nicolas Habicht, 20.\nJunior Paul Dayment, 21, was sent to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and released.\nAs part of their contributions to the investigation, the BFD has noted the locations of windows and examined the access paths.\nLloyd said the investigation is not near completion.\n"Typically with a larger fire like this, the investigations take more time," she said.\nLloyd said independent labs are inspecting audio and video components, which are believed to be the source of the fire, but no conclusive cause has been determined yet. Their inspections of the equipment could take "a significant amount of time," Lloyd said.\nInvestigators also do not know who placed the 911 call, which came from inside the house from Habicht's cell phone. Investigators determined that the house's fire alarms were functional and operating because they were sounding in the background during the call.\nHorn Properties, which owns the house, 719 N. Indiana Ave., said they do not have access to the house at this time. They are waiting for word from the insurance agents and the city before they make any decision about the house's future.\nHorn Properties said the house was within Bloomington City Code and had been inspected by the city. A permit of compliance was set to expire in 2006.\nThe house has paperwork on file at the Bloomington Department of House and Neighborhood Development office, which has shown it was in compliance with Bloomington property maintenance code.\nA report released by the BFD in late May ruled the fire as "most likely accidental."\n-- Contact Opinion editor Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.