Short answer. Usually not. A thing destroyed by a genuine accident is lost to its owner, not to the keeper. The Civil Code makes the keeper answer for such a loss in only four situations: where it was agreed, where he used the thing, where he let others use it, or where he was already late in returning it.
What the law says
The depositary is liable for the loss of the thing through a fortuitous event: (1) If it is so stipulated; (2) If he uses the thing without the depositor's permission; (3) If he delays its return; (4) If he allows others to use it, even though he himself may have been authorized to use the same.
Civil Code, Article 1979 — Liability for Fortuitous Loss. Read the full provision →
The default: an accident falls on the owner
A fire, a typhoon or a flood that nobody could have prevented is what the law calls a fortuitous event. The starting position is hard but consistent: the owner bears the loss of his own property when an accident destroys it, and a person who was merely keeping it — as a favour, or under a safekeeping arrangement — does not become an insurer of it. This is a rule about who carries a misfortune, not about who behaved badly. It is worth saying plainly, because a reader looking for someone to blame will misread everything that follows.
The four situations that reverse it
Article 1979 then lists where the default flips. The depositary is liable for the loss of the thing through a fortuitous event: (1) If it is so stipulated; (2) If he uses the thing without the depositor's permission; (3) If he delays its return; (4) If he allows others to use it, even though he himself may have been authorized to use the same. These are exceptions, and each describes something the keeper chose to do. That choice is what stops the accident from being purely the owner's bad luck.
Use and delay are the common ones
Two of the four come up constantly. If the keeper used the thing without your permission, or let someone else use it, the loss falls on him even though the fire itself was nobody's doing — his choice is what put the thing where the accident found it. The fourth ground is stricter than it looks: it catches even a keeper who was allowed to use the thing himself but passed it to another. Delay works the same way. Someone who should have returned the item last month cannot call the fire bad luck, because had he complied the thing would not have been there at all.
Pinning down the facts
Establish them early. Photograph whatever is left, obtain the fire or incident report if one exists, and write down when you asked for the thing back and what you were told. The date of your demand often decides the case. If you agreed in writing that the keeper would answer for any loss, produce that agreement — the first ground on the list is simply your own stipulation. Insurance, whether yours or his, follows its own policy and may respond regardless of fault. Claims of this kind carry time limits, so seek advice promptly rather than once the dust has settled.