Fire Accident Lawsuits

A fire burned you or someone you love, destroyed your home, or took a member of your family. If you’re exhausted, grieving and not sure where to start, that’s a normal reaction.

Here’s the plain answer. You may have a claim if someone else’s carelessness caused the fire or made the harm worse: a landlord who ignored a missing smoke alarm, a contractor who left faulty wiring, the maker of a defective heater or battery, or a hotel whose alarms didn’t work. Some fires are no one’s legal fault, and then your own insurance may be the main source of help. Michigan’s rules are in the boxes marked “In Michigan.”

The hard part is usually the evidence. Fire scenes are cleaned up or torn down, the appliance or battery that started a fire can end up in a dumpster, and the insurers on the other side investigate fires every day.

Hurt in a fire and not sure where you stand? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

In 2024, local fire departments in the U.S. responded to an estimated 1,388,000 fires, which caused an estimated 3,920 civilian deaths and 11,780 civilian injuries. Fires in homes, including apartments, were 23% of those fires but caused 75% of the civilian deaths and injuries (NFPA, Fire Loss in the United States During 2024).

Who can be responsible for a fire?

Calling a fire an accident usually means no one set it on purpose, not that no one is responsible. Negligence is “the failure to use ordinary care” (M Civ JI 10.02), and an accidental fire can still be the result of it. You don’t have to prove your case beyond doubt: Michigan jurors are told the evidence must persuade them “that it is more likely than not” that a claim is true (M Civ JI 8.01).

Landlords and property owners

A landlord usually controls the shared parts of a building, so dangers there are usually its responsibility under premises liability rules; inside your own unit, it depends more on state law, your lease and what the landlord knew. Fire claims against landlords often involve missing or broken smoke alarms, faulty wiring or heating, blocked exits and code violations.

Contractors

An electrician, gas fitter or other contractor whose careless work starts a fire can be responsible for it, and a landlord that had the work done may be too.

Defective products, including lithium-ion batteries

A heater, charger, battery or other product that starts a fire because of a defect can make its maker, and sometimes the businesses that sold it, responsible; see how product liability claims work. Lithium-ion batteries can fail through “thermal runaway,” a self-sustaining reaction inside a cell that rapidly generates heat and can lead to fire or explosion. As of November 2024, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had identified 227 incidents from 2019 through 2023 involving the batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards and similar products, with 181 injuries and 39 deaths, all 39 in fires. CPSC conducted 29 voluntary recalls of these products for fire, overheating and smoke inhalation hazards from 2016 through November 2024, and in June 2026 it proposed a mandatory safety standard for their batteries (CPSC, 91 FR 38162).

Check the CPSC’s recalls and product safety warnings. A recall can point to a known hazard, but in Michigan you still generally must prove the product was not reasonably safe when it left the defendant’s control and that this caused your losses (M Civ JI 25.32).

Utilities and hotels

• Utilities. A gas or electric utility can be responsible if its own equipment or work was negligent. These claims can be technical, and if a city or other public body runs the utility, governmental immunity may be raised (MCL 691.1407(1)).
• Hotels. Michigan’s hotel law requires, among other things, at least one smoke detector in each sleeping room, a fire alarm system and employee fire drills (MCL 427.3). See injury claims against hotels.

How is a fire’s cause investigated?

Investigators work out where a fire started (its origin) and what started it (its cause). NFPA 921, the National Fire Protection Association’s Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations (2024 edition), is written for public investigators and for private ones who work for insurers or on lawsuits. An insurer’s investigator works for the insurer, so a lawyer may hire an independent cause-and-origin expert.

How do you protect the evidence?

• Stay out until the fire department says it’s safe (U.S. Fire Administration).
• Write down the fire incident report number and the investigator’s name.
• Keep whatever may have started the fire, such as a heater, battery, charger, cord or outlet, even if it’s burned. Don’t let anyone repair it, discard it or take it apart before each side’s investigators can examine it. A burned lithium-ion battery can reignite even after the fire is out, so store it away from anything that can burn (U.S. Fire Administration).
• Photograph everything before cleanup, and ask the landlord, the insurers and any contractor in writing to keep the scene, the debris and their records. See how to preserve evidence.

In Michigan, if a party without a reasonable excuse fails to produce important evidence it controlled, the jury may be told it can infer the evidence would have hurt that party (M Civ JI 6.01). That can include you.

Not sure what caused the fire, or who should answer for it? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

What can you recover for burn injuries and other losses?

Burns are graded by depth. Superficial burns, formerly called first-degree, affect only the outer layer of skin; partial-thickness (second-degree) burns reach the layer beneath and blister; full-thickness (third-degree) burns reach the deep layers, and the skin may look white or blackened and feel numb. Pain isn’t a guide to how serious a burn is, and breathing smoke or superheated air can burn the airway. Major burns need urgent care, which can help prevent scarring, disability and deformity. Some burns may need skin grafts, and burn scars can cause a contracture, stiff tissue that limits movement (MedlinePlus).

In Michigan, damages are meant to compensate you, not punish the defendant. Jurors can award money for losses so far and for future losses that are “reasonably certain” (M Civ JI 50.01), including:

• medical care, past and future, and other reasonable expenses the injury causes, such as caretaking (M Civ JI 50.05, 50.08)
• lost earning capacity (M Civ JI 50.06)
• pain and suffering, mental anguish, fright and shock, denial of social pleasure and enjoyments, and embarrassment or humiliation (M Civ JI 50.02)
• disability and disfigurement, such as scarring (M Civ JI 50.03)
• damage to your personal property, such as your belongings (M Civ JI 50.09)

Michigan also reduces your damages by your share of the fault, if any, and if your share is greater than everyone else’s combined, you get no noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering (MCL 600.2959; see comparative fault in Michigan). Noneconomic damages are also capped in product liability cases, with exceptions (MCL 600.2946a). See how pain and suffering is valued.

In Michigan, if someone died, the personal representative of the estate brings the claim, and damages can include medical, funeral and burial expenses, the person’s conscious pain and suffering, and “the loss of financial support and the loss of the society and companionship of the deceased” (MCL 600.2922(2), (6)). See wrongful death claims and Michigan wrongful death law.

Can you claim against your own insurance, or sue your insurer?

Start with your own policy. Call your insurer right away and ask what it needs, make only temporary repairs, keep every receipt, and note who you talk to and what they said. If you can’t live at home, check for additional living expenses coverage, which pays extra costs such as a hotel and restaurant meals (Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, or DIFS).

Can you sue your own insurer? You can sue for what the policy owes, but it’s a lawsuit for breach of the insurance contract, with its own rules. In Michigan, a fire policy must say you can sue only after complying with its requirements, and that “An action must be commenced within 1 year after the loss or within the time period specified in the policy, whichever is longer. The time for commencing an action is tolled from the time the insured notifies the insurer of the loss until the insurer formally denies liability” (MCL 500.2833(1)(q)). Tolled means the clock is paused. In a case over a disability insurance policy, the Michigan Supreme Court held that an insurer’s breach of contract didn’t allow damages for mental distress, and that exemplary damages require allegation and proof of a tort independent of the breach (Kewin v Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co, 1980). If a claim stalls or is denied, ask for the decision in writing, with the policy language it relies on; DIFS takes complaints about insurers.

How long do you have to file a fire lawsuit?

Every state sets its own deadlines, and some claims need written notice much sooner; see injury deadlines in every state.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and follow up. The most serious burns can be painless (MedlinePlus). Tell every provider how you were hurt, and keep every record and bill.
2. Protect the evidence. Write down the report number, keep whatever may have started the fire, photograph the scene, and ask in writing that the scene and records be kept.
3. Call your insurer, and mark its deadlines. Ask what proof of loss it needs, keep receipts, and get any denial in writing.
4. Be careful what you say and sign. You don’t have to give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement, and it’s safer not to before you’ve had advice (talking to an insurance adjuster). Don’t sign a release before you know the full extent of your losses.
5. Get a free case review. A lawyer can check who may be responsible and which deadline comes first. Get a free case review, or, if the fire was in Michigan, compare Michigan injury lawyers.

What waiting can cost

• The evidence. Fire scenes get cleaned up or torn down, and a burned heater or battery can be thrown out.
• A claim involving a public building. In Michigan, written notice is due within 120 days (MCL 691.1406).
• A lawsuit against your own insurer. A Michigan fire policy can require it within 1 year after the loss, not counting the time between your notice and a formal denial (MCL 500.2833(1)(q)).

What a good outcome looks like

The fire’s cause is documented, everyone responsible is identified, and every notice and lawsuit is filed on time. Those responsible, and the insurance you bought, pay for your care, lost pay and property losses, along with compensation for what your family went through, and you know what you’ll take home before you sign anything. From wondering whether anyone is to blame to knowing what caused the fire, who answers for it, what your own policy owes you and which deadline comes first.

For more guides on injuries caused by unsafe property, browse slip, fall and unsafe property claims.

Updated September 29, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.