Apartment Fires

Apartment Fires

If you live in an apartment building in New York City, NY, you trust the property owner will keep you safe from fires. Property owners have access to information about the condition of a property that nobody else has access to. They also have the resources to perform fire safety inspections. Altogether, property owners have a duty to keep you safe from threats caused by the condition of their apartments.

Sometimes property owners betray the trust you have placed in them. When this happens, people get hurt. Apartment fires in New York City can be particularly dangerous due to the height of the buildings and high population density. 

Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. has the experience you need if you or a loved one was injured or killed in an apartment fire in New York City. In fact, we have 40 years of experience holding negligent property owners and managers responsible for their negligent conduct. 

Contact our New York apartment fire lawyers today for a free consultation about your case. 

How Can Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. Help Me After an Apartment Fire in New York City?

Apartment fires cause severe burn injuries and even death, especially in multi-story buildings. People are often asleep in their apartment when a fire breaks out. Recovering compensation for your apartment fire can be difficult. Home and property insurers are notorious for denying claims and offering lowball settlements. Our New York City personal injury lawyers will hold their feet to the fire for fair compensation.

With Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. at your side, you will have the experience and aggression you need to effectively handle your case. We have been helping injured New Yorkers for over 40 years, and we have recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients. 

When you hire us to represent you in New York City, New York, we will:

  • Listen to your side of the story to understand what happened
  • Hire experts in fire suppression and fire codes to prove what really happened
  • Contact the fire marshal for their report
  • Calculate the full extent of your damages and pursue every penny you’re entitled to
  • Negotiate with insurers and defense attorneys for a fair settlement
  • Take your case to trial if the defendants won’t play ball

Our New York City personal injury attorneys will leverage their decades of experience and resources to get you the compensation you need after your accident. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with our legal team.

How Common Are Apartment Fires in New York?

In 2018, the New York City Fire Department responded to a shocking 27,053 structural fires. Of these, 1,797 were “all hands” fires. This means the fire broke through multiple floors or buildings and required additional firefighter units.

If you have been impacted by an apartment fire in Long Island or another area of NYC, you are not alone. New York City’s dense population and heavy development create huge fire risks.  

How Much Money Can I Recover After My Apartment Fire in NYC?

Damages vary from case to case, so how much you can recover depends on your unique situation. 

Some common injuries in fire accident cases include:

  • Lung injuries, especially from inhaling black smoke
  • A wide range of burn injuries, from first-degree burns to fourth-degree burns.
  • Broken bones from fleeing the fire or jumping from the top floor
  • Property damage
  • Emotional trauma
  • Death

You can typically recover economic damages for your financial losses due to the fire, including medical expenses and lost income. You can also recover non-economic damages to make up for your personal losses, like pain and suffering and disfigurement and scarring.

Our New York City personal injury lawyers can help you value all your losses after the accident. We will leave nothing on the table.

What if the Property Owner is Trying to Blame Me for Causing the Fire? 

Big building owners usually have teams of lawyers that will try to scare you out of pursuing your case. They may even blame you for the fire. However, New York is a pure comparative fault state. 

You can still recover damages even if you’re partly to blame for the accident; the damages are just reduced in proportion to your percentage of fault.


Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. is skilled at disproving any allegation that you were to blame. We will fight to protect your reputation against victim-blaming. 

What Causes Apartment Fires in New York City?

Apartment fires are almost always caused by negligence. That is, someone failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent the fire. 

In many situations, apartment fires are caused by:

  • bad smoke detectors or fire alarms
  • dangerous products
  • electrical/wiring issues
  • building/fire code violations

Most fires are caused by human error. Do not let the property owner push you around or lowball you for the injuries that they caused. 

How Do I Prove Liability After an Apartment Fire in New York City, NY?

Property owners are typically sued under a subset of negligence. This type of lawsuit is called premises liability. Premises liability allows tenants and guests to sue a property owner for failing to keep a property reasonably safe. 

There are four elements of a negligence suit for premises liability.

  • Dutythe apartment owner owed you a duty to keep their property reasonably safe.
  • Breach – the owner breached their duty.
  • Causation – this failure caused an apartment fire.
  • Damages – you were injured by the apartment fire.

Premises liability cases can get very complicated. Experienced legal counsel is needed to make sure you effectively prove your claim. 

How Long Do I Have to Sue After an Apartment Fire in New York?

Statutes of limitation limit your time to file a lawsuit. Waiting too long can prevent you from recovering any damages. For personal injury cases, you have three years to file a lawsuit. For wrongful death, the time limit is two years

Contact Our New York Premises Liability Law Firm Right Away

If you have suffered injuries from an apartment fire in New York City, time is of the essence. Valuable evidence of wrongdoing may be destroyed, and statutes of limitation are running. 

Our New York City personal injury attorneys want to hear your side of the story. Contact us for your free consultation after your Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, The Bronx, or Brooklyn Fire.