What you may want to look into the Fire Department's investigation of the fire. One is always done. There are several reasons for this:

1. If there was a building code violation that the landlord should have fixed that lead to the fire, you may have some luck there.
2. If the person's apartment that burnt down caused it due to being retarded, you may also have some luck.

You may not have a solid case, but for civil court you don't need it, and at this point if you get, hell, $500 out of it, that's better than nothing.