FWFD releases new Willows fire details

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Willows of Coventry fire has been the center of a lot of discussion. Three International Business College students died in the fire. Questions surrounding the Fort Wayne Fire Department's response went largely unanswered, until now. Nearly eight months after the fire, the department released dozens of reports detailing exactly what happened.

"We have not withheld this trying to create a shroud of secrecy," Fort Wayne Fire Chief Pete Kelly said. "It's a legal matter. [The legal team] deemed them investigatory and releasing these documents they feel will not compromise any further investigation."

The stack of documents is about three inches high. Many of the papers are emails and information requests, but there are also a lot of reports from firefighters on the scene detailing exactly what each crew did on the morning of January 23, 2009.

NewsChannel 15 discovered 13 minutes went by from when the first fire engine crew arrived on scene and when the victims were pulled out of the second story apartment window.

"When they arrived there was heavy fire involvement and smoke in both the ground apartment and the second floor apartment," Kelly said. "Anyone who knows anything about responding to fires like that knows you obviously aren't going to open the door and walk in."

The fire was so intense, crews had a hard time finding a way into the second story apartment. Three girls were trapped in the master bathroom in the apartment.

The firefighters on Engine 19 were assigned the job of search and rescue, but the crew on Rescue 1, stationed at Station 1 in downtown Fort Wayne, did most of the excavation of the girls. Engine 19's crew was on scene before Rescue 1, but it's not clear by how many minutes. The Rescue 1 crew didn't mark in the computer when it arrived at the scene.

"In the heat of the moment they must not have pressed an arrival time," Kelly said.

In the last few months, some people questioned why the crews on the scene didn't rescue the girls before the Rescue 1 crew arrived. The answer, the department says now, is that the fire was just too big.

"Do we wait around for Rescue 1 to do a rescue? Absolutely not. It's always our first priority to get in and rescue people with firefighter safety in mind," Kelly said.

Before firefighters could go into the apartments to look for victims, they had to secure a water supply, set up ladders and knock the fire back. The fire actually burned through the roof, creating ventilation, which helped firefighters have an opportunity to get in the apartment where the girls were.

"When Rescue 1 got there they didn't have to grab a ladder and didn't have to grab hose lines. [The crews from] 9 was just about established and ready to go up. Rescue 1 got right in at arrival because of the work crews from Stations 17, 18 and 19 had been doing," Kelly said. "There was a lot of action needed before they could get inside."

The fire had already burned a lot of the apartment by the time firefighters were able to hold off the flames long enough to crawl to the girls. One report said, "... this crew went far beyond their duty in effecting this search. This crew placed their own safety secondary to the rescue of the victims."

The report said there was a "vast amount of free-burning fire in the adjacent area" and part of the floor had fallen through. The floor that was still there was "soft and spongy" in the area where they were searching.

"At least one knee, if not several knees, were going through the floor at the time of the rescue. Hats off to those individuals. They put their lives on the line in very serious and extreme conditions," Kelly said.

Several months ago the cause of the fire was ruled electrical from an outlet in the lower apartment. The newly released reports discussed a CrimeStoppers tip suggesting the fire was arson. Chief Kelly said that tip was fully investigated and was not substantiated.

Now the department is still waiting for the results from destructive testing done by an independent laboratory. Those tests examine the electrical outlet and the materials around it to confirm it was the cause of the fire.

"I'm hoping it's conclusive and black and white and that will close any investigation. We have no reason to suspect [any other cause] at this time," Kelly said.

NewsChannel 15 spoke with Cal Miller, the attorney for the Willows apartment complex. He said while it's great these documents have been released, he still wants the 9-1-1 tapes to be released.

Kelly said those will not be made public "in large part out of respect of the family."