Your insurer will make note of what they believe to be the cause of the fire and will look into the power company angle if they feel it has merit . If the power company is outside fixing it you should take a couple pictures or at least make note of the time and date for your insurer . It ' s possible though not likely that the transformer precipitated the fire , that the fire caused the transformer issue , or that the transformer issue was just coincidental and unrelated . I once handled a Christmas Day house fire where the 40 yearold electrical line to the dryer apparently randomly arced at the point where it turned from running along the ceiling to where it ran down the wall to the back of the dryer . Gutted the house and killed the family dog . But that was unusual . Many dryer fires start in the lint trap area . There ' s usually a provision in any property insurance contract that says your right to sue a responsible party for damages transfers to your insurer once they pay your claim . This makes sense because at that point they are the ones out the money , not you . Insurance is all about the insurer assuming your financial risks in exchange for a premium payment . Now , your right to sue over any firerelated damages that your insurer doesn ' t pay you for ? Those still belong to you . So if you suffered a loss from the fire that you were not compensated for because of some loophole in the policy , or if your insurer doesn ' t pursue the claim against Con Edison and you want the deductible back , then sure you can sue for those things if you think you can prove that they caused the fire .