A Canadian couple living in the province of British Columbia "are demanding Apple pay $600,000 in uninsured losses after they were forced to close their farm business following a devastating house fire that they claim was sparked by a faulty iPhone.

Cathy and Ian Finley believe a three-month-old iPhone 6 left plugged into a charge cord somehow heated up and started a fire in their living room in October 2016.

Fire officials who found the blackened device while investigating reported that "it would appear that the phone or charger generated enough heat to ignite" in a chair that was identified as the place the fire started.  

The Finleys said their insurer, The Co-operators, and Apple have become adversarial and that's slowed any solution."

A second report on this matter further noted that "Cathy Finley and her husband Ian said the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant offered to help them recover from the fire that devastated their home and farming business in 2016. That gesture, they say, is in limbo because Apple wants to examine the iPhone, but their insurance company does not want to release it.

"Apple wants to get their hands on the phone. My insurance company is trying to protect their interests too," Ian told CTV Vancouver on Tuesday."

The CBC report further noted that "A private forensic firm working for fire officials has the destroyed phone. Apple has been unable to examine the burned phone or cord and won't commit to further action until then. Both Apple and The Co-operators declined public comment.

While there have been past cases of fires sparked by faulty lithium batteries, those reported publicly about Apple products are scarce and usually involve improper use or non-Apple accessories.

In 2017, a Wisconsin lawsuit was filed alleging a defective iPhone 4S battery sparked a fire, according to United States District Court documents."

For more on this story and the Finleys testimony, read the full CBC and/or CTV reports. An iPhone charger like the one noted in the photo above is like the charger that comes with every new iPhone as noted in the photo below of an unboxing of an iPhone 6.

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