Character Development Season 8

[JesterFace]

About Robert and Rene, their death in a fire happened probably so that Soran could seem evil when he says "time is a fire in which we burn".
If there was season 8, most likely none of the 'Generations' poop would not have happened.
(sorry, I just don't like 'Generations', more like hate it)

 

[Farscape One]

It occurs to me, Robert was VERY old school with technology. Maybe fire detectors/automatic extinguishers were part of that and he didn't upgrade. Or didn't bother changing the batteries because he just didn't care enough about the machine.

That could be another reason why they died in such a way.