Governor's office releases State Fair emails - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

The governor's office has released its first batch of emails to 13 Investigates sent between top state officials following the stage collapse at the fairgrounds August 13th.

It's been three months since we first requested the email exchanges to see how state officials responded to the tragedy. Seven people died and over 40 were injured.

Dozens of pages of documents came from Indiana's Department of Homeland Security and Fire Marshal Jim Greeson.

Homeland Security sent what's called a "spot report" to the Federal Emergency Management Administration, alerting them to the collapse more than an hour after the incident. A forecast from FEMA showed clear warnings of a threat of thunderstorms that night.

Within days, Greeson was making inquiries about the fire code regulations regarding canopies. A canopy was attached to the trussing above the Sugarland stage and structural engineers say it acted as a sail when the gust of wind blew in.

According to the code forwarded to Greeson, canopies "shall be adequately roped, braced and anchored to withstand the elements of weather and prevent against collapsing. Documentation of structural stability shall be furnished to the fire code official on request."

Homeland Security officials were not available Wednesday afternoon to talk about this code or its role, if any, in the investigation.

The documents released Wednesday also included emails to and from the Indiana State Police handling media request across the country.

No emails from Gov. Mitch Daniels or State Fair Commission members were released. The governor's office says it withheld emails now considered to be a part of the investigation.