New info on deadly fire investigation

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - NewsChannel 15 has discovered the owner of the Willows of Coventry apartment complex is looking into a potential danger associated with staircases.

Back in January, a fire broke out at the complex that killed three people. Dial Equities, Inc. has issued a letter to residents based on information from the Allen County Building Department.

The letter indicates that stairways at the complex, including the one that burned, were not built to code.  The stairways were constructed only of wood, when they should have had sheetrock or insulation applied to the underside to retard the spread of fire.

Dial Equities, Inc. is planning to fix the problem even though the Allen County Building Department can't mandate it to do so. 

"We think making these repairs is the correct thing to do," said Senior Vice President of Dial Equities, Doug Hastings. "We think if it will improve the safety of our residents, that it's the right thing for us to do and that's what we're committed to: taking care of our residents."

Hastings would not talk about the cost involved in upgrading the staircases. He did say though that are 222 of them at the Willows of Coventry. Hastings said there are half that many at Pointe Inverness, another property in Fort Wayne the company owns. It was developed at the same time as the Willows of Coventry, and the company has found it's staircases to be problematic as well.

Assistant Building Commissioner Roger Clark said that paperwork filed in 1987 indicates the apartments were built according to plans and there were no building violations. 

Clark also said that because the back of the stairs are concealed, it is reasonable that an inspector may have overlooked  the fact that there was not any sheetrock or insulation attached to the underside of the wooden stairways. 

While the letter to residents from Dial Equities, Inc. indicates building code was violated during construction, Clark said his department has been unable to find the actual code from 1987, so he can't say for sure if the stairs were improperly constructed.  

The complex was not built by Dial Equities, Inc., but by another developer.

The Fort Wayne Fire Department has yet to release a cause of the January 23 fire.

The three people killed in the fire were students at the International Business College in Fort Wayne.

Below is the letter sent to residents at the Willows of Coventry by its owner:

Dial Equities, Inc.

Willows of Coventry

Resident Notice - Sheetrock/lnsulation Work

February 25th, 2009

Following the January 23, 2009 fire, the Alien County Building Department informed DEI Communities that the inaccessible cavities below the stairways leading to the second floor apartments, at the time they were built in the 1980s, were not constructed in accordance with the then-applicable building code. The Building Department informed DEI Communities that the 1987 code required the underside of the wooden stairways to be encased in sheetrock or filled with insulation to provide an appropriate fire-resistance rating. Unfortunately, it appears the original developer of Willows of Coventry neglected to perform this work when the apartment buildings were constructed in the 1980s.

Following prompt consideration of the information provided by the Building Department, DEI Communities voluntarily and unilaterally conducted inspections of the "below-the-stairway" cavities in a number of vacant apartments by removing both interior sheetrock walls and exterior walls. These inspections confirmed the absence of sheetrock and/or blown in insulation beneath portions of stairways leading to second floor apartments.

DEI Communities, in working with the Building Department, identified the work necessary to provide the required fire-resistance rating in the inaccessible cavities below the stairways. DEI Communities will begin performing the recommended work immediately. The Willows of Coventry staff will notify all residents when this work will be performed in their individual apartments.

• In the case of apartment units where the second-floor stairway extends into the interior of the building creating a "below-the-stairway" closet in the first floor apartment, the work will involve the addition of "blown-in" insulation into the inaccessible portion of the cavity below the stairs. This work will be performed inside the "below-the-stairway" closet in the first floor apartment,

• In the case of apartment units where the second-floor stairway extends behind the first floor fireplace creating a "below-the-stairway" inaccessible cavity, the work will involve accessing the cavity from the building exterior and installing sheetrock under the stairway. The exterior siding will be replaced with a door accessing the previously inaccessible area.

Please note that these newly created exterior utility closets along with the interior and exterior furnace/water heater closets are not to be used for storage. All of the exterior utility closets have been equipped with locks to allow access only by maintenance personnel. The interior furnace/water heater closets and the newly created exterior utility closets will also be equipped with similar maintenance-only locks.

We appreciate your cooperation as we perform this work.