Why must an insurance company ask for so much documentation after a fire in your home?

Not as infrequently as you might think, home (or, for that  matter, car) fires are acts of insurance fraud, done by desperate policy holders who need to get out from under a debt while also, they hope collecting money. This is all the more likely in today's economy and real estate market, when it's not unlikely a home is insured for more than its currently worth; that a homeowner is out-of-work, underemployed, or otherwise in financial distress; and taht a homeowner may have (particularly if they bought 2 - 6 years ago) bought more  home than they can afford. The insurance company wants to examine papers, etc. that will help it determine if you are in financial distress and if therefore there is some reason to think that possibly this is fraud and they should, at least, conduct a deeper investigation.