Your home was your haven, but a house fire turned that all upside-down. Injuries to your family and irreplaceable property damage are enormous burdens for anyone to undertake, and you don’t know if you can cover them on your own.
House fires injure over 11,600 people and result in $6.5 billion in damages every year. Sometimes a house fire is caused by accident, but often the blazes are preventable. If the latter is the case, you could seek help to get your family through this terrible time.
Liable causes
If you can attribute the cause of the fire to negligence, then you could file suit to recover damages. There is an array of negligent actions that can lead to a house fire:
- Installation errors: Incorrect installation can lead to a case of liability. A new water heater that is incorrectly set up can lead to combustion, which in turn means a court could find the company that handled the job at fault.
- Defective products: Appliances that aren’t in working order when they leave the factory could be detrimental to your home. A spark from a malfunctioning fridge could start a fire in the kitchen, which means the manufacturer could be responsible.
- Repair failures: If you have a technician come into your home to repair a broken heater and they leave behind a broken gas line that causes an explosion, that may qualify for negligence.
Following the flames
Identifying the origin of a fire can be difficult since most of the potential evidence is likely damaged. Investigators will look for any fuel, or accelerants, that contributed to the fire, and the path of the flames to determine a starting point. Such evidence could show a road to liability.
Make sure you understand what could have led to this traumatic event, and who’s at fault. You could end up getting the help you need to make it past this physical, emotional and financial destruction.