Apartment fire claims life of IU freshman

An IU freshman died Saturday after an early morning fire broke out at Terra Trace Apartments.

Renee Ohrn, 19, of Gary, was pronounced dead at IU Health Bloomington Hospital at 4:32 a.m., Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer said in a statement.

Ohrn was a resident of Eigenmann Hall on campus, Meyer said, but was staying with a friend at the apartment complex when the fire happened.

Four people were transported to the hospital with injuries related to the fire, hospital spokesperson Amanda Roach said. Among the injured were Bloomington police Sgt. James Batcho and Bloomington fire Capt. Woodrow Hueston.

Batcho suffered smoke inhalation after helping a resident down from a balcony, Lt. Faron Lake of the Bloomington Police Department said.

Batcho was one of nine BPD officers who assisted the Bloomington Fire Department during the fire, Lake said. The IU Police Department was also on hand.

Both the officer and the firefighter were treated and released from IU Health Bloomington Hospital Saturday.

The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. at the apartments in the 300 block of East 15th Street.

BFD Battalion Chief Rick Petermichel said the three-alarm fire affected all 12 units of the complex’s D building. Though it did not spread to other buildings, people in building C were asked to vacate at about 3:30 a.m.

Saturday afternoon, residents of both buildings returned to gather their belongings.
A blue and white blanket hung from a second-floor bedroom in the D building. Shards of glass remained where a window should have been.

The fire that began nearly 12 hours earlier did not make it into the room, but outside the apartment’s walls, a layer of black covered the building’s stairwell.

“The fire was originally coming out of the stairwell,” said senior Mark McWhirter, who lives in a house across from the building on East 14th Street. “It wasn’t coming out of any windows or apartments.”

McWhirter said he saw the fire from his front lawn before police or firefighters arrived on the scene. He stood on a hill across the street as five people ran out the building’s front door, flames coming from behind them.

Half an hour after McWhirter noticed the fire, he said he thought he heard a cry for help come from inside the building, but he didn’t think anyone was still in it.

“I just cannot believe that someone passed away in there,” McWhirter said.

The fire was still in progress about three hours after it started, McWhirter said.

“We were here till sunrise, and it kept going on and on,” he said.

Across the street from the apartments, two people sat with a snowboard, ski boots and a rug. Picture frames were placed on a wooden pole next to them.

Windows from the first to third floors on the left side of the building were broken and, from the street, the stairwell on the third floor was visible through blackened wood beams. Most of the outside wall was gone.

On the other side of the building, two women waited for a firefighter to return from their apartment.

The firefighter walked down the charred staircase holding a black backpack, laptop and a birthday gift bag.

“Here’s a laptop,” he said, putting it down at one woman’s feet. “Or, what’s left of one. The light’s still on. It could be salvaged.”

She bent over to look at it, shook her head and left it on the ground.

IU spokesman Mark Land called the fire a tragedy and said the University would do anything it could to help the students who were affected.

“It’s a very sad thing,” Land said, noting the fire came just days after the death of another IU student, freshman Matthew Erickson. “To lose two students in the same week is very difficult for everyone.”

He said Residential Programs and Services and the Office of the Dean of Students worked Saturday morning with the Monroe County Red Cross to support the
displaced students.

Six students stayed in Forrest Quad Saturday night with the option to stay for a couple of weeks. If they wish to move into a dorm room for the rest of the semester, Land said the University will work to make that happen at a reduced rate.

Counseling and Psychological Services remained in Eigenmann Hall Saturday to help distraught students there, he said.

“We’re going to do everything we can,” Land said. “It’s been a tough day in a
tough week.”