Fire alarm removed night before fire that killed IU student [WXIN-TV, Indianapolis]

Oct. 20--The Bloomington Fire Department ruled an apartment fire that killed 19-year-old IU student Renee Ohrn, an accident Thursday.

Shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, firefighters received a call which said an apartment building in Terra Trace was on fire. Terra Trace Apartments is located a few blocks from IU Bloomington's campus.

Ivy Tech Student, Xiang Lin Zhang, who lives in the building next door said she remembered the unexpected wake up call made by police.

"I was just sleeping. I don't know what happened. Just (that the) police department knock(ed) (at) my door and they come in and let me out," she said.

The Bloomington FIre Department's investigation has been completed, Fire Chief Roger Kerr said.

Chief Kerr said the fire started in the ceiling of a hallway in apartment D8. Renee Ohrn, 19, was staying with a friend in apartment D9. Ohrn died from smoke inhalation. The fire department does not know what started the fire.

"We probably won't (know) because we don't have the resources to do the forensic study to determine exactly what cause that an insurance company might," Chief Kerr said.

The department's investigation determined two things about the apartment fire. In the report, it states Ohrn was in an apartment that did not have a smoke detector. Chief Kerr said the person who lived there took it out the night before. The chief said it was removed because the smoke detector was sounding off and it annoyed the resident.

Chief Kerr also mentioned the breakers in a utility box for the fire alarm were off. He said a student told them, the morning of the fire, she tried to pull the fire alarm to warn everybody else, but nothing happened. The chief said the breakers could've been off for a number of reasons, but said it was hard to tell.

"You would hope that would've helped, but I don't know for sure," Chief Kerr said.

When contacted by Fox59 about the report, Ohrn's family declined to comment.

Fox59 contacted one of the owners of the property. The co-owner said that they had not received the report and had not viewed it until Fox59 shared it with them. The co-owner said they are going to get to the bottom of it and make sure the report is accurate. According to her, horns were replaced in September, the month before the fire.

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