VERTEX was retained by an insurance carrier to investigate the origin & cause of a fire at a commercially operated apartment building housing college students. The origin and cause of the fire was determined to be in a 2nd floor apartment bedroom with fire spread from that bedroom and apartment into the common hall and stairways throughout the building causing damage to the clients building located adjacent to the fire building.
The insurance carrier and their counsel then retained VERTEX to conduct a thorough fire code inspection and review of the fire building. VERTEX’s investigation included visual observations, photographic documentation, and interviews with applicable parties, as well as a review of state and city fire codes, fire department reports, applicable city building department, fire inspection and health records.
Based on the code review and fire investigation, VERTEX concluded that numerous code violations within the fire building, including a lack of required fire doors and self-closing devices allowed the initial fire to spread outside of the bedroom and apartment of origin into the hallway, apartments and stairwells of the building which resulted in damage to the insured building. The result was a successful subrogation action for the VERTEX Client.
To learn more about VERTEX’s Forensic Fire Investigation Services or to speak with a Forensic Fire Expert, call 888.298.5162 or submit an inquiry.
This project was conducted by Vertex Fire Investigations LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of The Vertex Companies, LLC
