House fire site demolished

The charred remains of broken dreams were bulldozed Friday to conclude yet another chapter in the death of three IU students from a house fire more than a year ago.\nSeven-hundred and nineteen North Indiana Avenue, the scene of an unresolved May 22, 2004 electrical fire, was demolished fourteen months to-the-day after sophomore Nicolas Habicht, and juniors Joseph Alexander and Jacob Surface perished from carbon monoxide poisoning after a small early morning blaze erupted in their living room. Junior Paul Dayment survived after he was transferred by Lifeline helicopter with Habicht to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\n"Tell your mom and dad, your kids, you love them everyday because you don't know if you'll get to see them again," said Nicholas' father Marv, who traveled to his son's last resting place for the third time since the fire. "It's hard enough to let them go away to college. As a parent you just don't think your kid is going to die in a house fire. It never crossed my mind -- you expect a car accident, drugs or a shooting ... Nic called every week to keep us informed about what he was doing."\nMarv recalled placing a rose in the house's front door screen Thursday night. After the porch collapsed Friday, he said the crane operator noticed the rose laying on the front steps and both men took a moment to breathe a sigh of peace and remembrance. He pried the number "719" from the house as a keepsake for his memory book and he ripped off several spindles off the front porch before the \nscheduled demolition to share with other family members and friends.\n"One minute you're happy and the next you're sad ... I remember going through each room at a time and I thought about the boys -- there were Twinkies and Hi-C drink in the fridge, mirrors on the walls and the beds where they put their heads," Marv said. "Writing on the wall in Nic's room from his friends said he was a 'hero' and they loved all the boys. They all died in 10-foot by 10-foot rooms."\nFire investigators have yet to announce the origin of the fire, although a faulty Xbox cord has been implicated as the number one suspect in the students' deaths. The BFD issued a warning to students about the potential fire hazard associated with prolonged Xbox use this past winter and Microsoft, the gaming device manufacturer, issued a recall for all non-continental European-made Xbox power cords in mid-February manufactured on or before Oct. 23, 2003. \nMarv said the most difficult memory brought to mind during Friday's demolition was hearing Nic referred to by the name "Arizona" before he arrived in Indianapolis for treatment because his identity was not yet verified until that time. He said the deceased student's families would prefer 719 N. Indiana Ave. develop into a basketball court or a public park of some kind because the boys enjoyed playing sports.\n"We don't want another house to go up without a monument or a marker to remember what happened there," Marv said. "We as parents just don't want our the boys forgotten -- in two or three years people in Bloomington won't remember that much and that is \ndifficult."\nHe said the property owners told him they plan on transforming the burnt-down property into a grass lot until further notice. Stasny & Horn, owners of the demolished house and the land beneath it, were unavailable for comment at press time.\nThe students' families are hosting a golf tournament Aug. 20 to raise money for various community organizations like the Bloomington Fire Department. For more information call 317-888-9036.\nMarv said all student housing should contain both smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to avoid future fire-related premature and unnecessary deaths. \n"It's a very lonely time right now. It seems like the fire just happened," Marv said. "Everyone gets to move on but we have hit a brick wall ... There has been no finality ... The house should become a park where people can meet to be a family, to take time to share memories, and to say 'I love you.' We don't get to do that"