Dial Equities Inc., the parent company of Willows of Coventry, filed a petition Monday in Allen Superior Court requesting the city be forced to release public records related to the January fire at the southwest-side apartment complex that killed three residents.

In conjunction with Bradford Schools, International Business College and the estate of Jennifer Spurgeon, DEI is requesting an expedited hearing in which the city can explain its rationale for repeated denials for information requested by the company on the fire.

Lara A. Punches, 19, of Defiance, Ohio; Renea L. Patton, 18, of Ottawa, Ohio; and Spurgeon, 19, of Winamac, all died of smoke inhalation in the Jan. 23 early-morning fire.

A cause of the fire has not yet been released.

According to the petition, DEI initially requested records from the Jan. 23 fire from the Fort Wayne Fire Department on March 11. That request also included the reports of two other Willows blazes - Oct. 20 and Nov. 26.

The city denied the request, stating the records were “investigatory records,” according to court documents. DEI then asked the fire department on March 27 to define its “investigatory records” classification, asking the city to “explain how the fire department's radio transmission and radio transmission logs can be construed as ‘investigatory records.'”

The city has yet to respond to that letter, the petition states, though it did provide DEI with the fire's incident report. The city wouldn't comment on the case, said spokeswoman Rachel Blakeman.

But DEI wants more information, including documents, photographs, audio recordings, transmissions and logs, among other demands - that fall under the “investigatory records” umbrella.

Assistant Fire Chief Amy Biggs said the release of this type of record might jeopardize the investigation.

“Depending on what is requested, the law department determines whether that is critical to the investigatory process, or may violate certain investigations that could be ongoing,” she said.

Biggs said every request for records submitted to the department from DEI had been reviewed and immediately forwarded to the city's law department for determination.

A call to DEI was not returned before press time.