The fire chief said it was started by a butane type torch left on in the garage. Talking to the neighbor, he was smoking pot in the garage and used the butane torch to light it, and must've left it on by accident. The garage is filled to the brim with cardboard boxes, so must've been easy for the fire to spread once the lighter fell over.

The real kicker is that I guess they just are now realizing they don't have insurance. Fortunately for them, our HOA's policy covers the damage, but there's a $10k deductible that they'll have to pay.

It was funny talking to him, he was blaming the bank on the lack of insurance for not requiring them to have their own policy. My guess is that the HOA policy is comprehensive enough to satisfy the lender, which is how they got by without their own policy, but who knows.

I felt really bad for them when it happened, since we originally thought it was a tragic accident. It's harder to feel bad now that we know the cause (although obviously still sucks for them, especially for the other household members) . They're running a Gofundme to help with the $10k deductible, but again, them not having insurance is absolutely insane.

Thankfully for us, all of the smoke is out of our house and the inspector didn't notice any obvious smoke damage inside our home. Now we just have to deal with the eyesore next to our garage while we wait for them to make the repairs.