SANDPOINT ­— The past and current owners of a rental home where a toddler perished in a structure fire earlier this year are being sued for negligence, 1st District Court records show.

Counsel for the child’s biological parents, Jaymes Hyder and Tessa Potwin, said in a civil complaint filed on Tuesday alleges that a poorly maintained gas wall furnace in the home touched off the Jan. 11 fire which claimed the life of Andre Lee Hyder, 2.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $10,000 from the home’s former owner A&H Property Inc. and James Black, in addition to the owners at the time of the fire, Jacob Humble. It also seeks damages from Johnson Heating & Cooling, which serviced the furnace, according to court documents.

The two-story home was built in 1919 and sat at 620 Mountain View Road in Sandpoint.

Black entered into an agreement to sell the home to Humble in April 2018, the suit said. A certified home inspector conducted an inspection and recommended the Empire Heating Systems furnace be cleaned, inspected and serviced. The inspector further noted — in a red font — that the home did not have smoke detectors, the suit alleges.

The suit claims the furnace work was not done and smoke detectors were not installed.

It was, however, serviced by a Johnson technician who cleaned the pilot and lit the furnace after Hyder advised the appliance was not working, the suit said.

The suit alleges the furnace was still not working properly, which prompted Hyder to light a wood stove in the home and turn off the furnace on the day of the fire. Temperatures dropped sharply that night, causing the furnace to light automatically, according to the suit.

Hyder, the suit said, put his son to sleep in an upstairs bedroom, while he and Baylie Nitz retired to a downstairs bedroom. Hyder awoke to Nitz’s coughing and discovered the entire center of the home’s interior was engulfed in flames. Hyder pushed Nitz through a window and he followed knowing he could not reach his son from inside the home.

Hyder attempted to re-enter the home at all available points of entry but could not get back in, the suit alleges. Nitz lacerated her hand breaking a window.

“Hyder and Nitz experienced shocked and terror as they watched the rental property burn,” Hayden attorneys Regina McCrea and Jeffrey Owens said in the 12-page complaint.

Potwin later arrived to find the home in ruins, the suit said.