I bet Barb found the violin in a thrift shop and thought it was worth something because it was a Stradivarius copy.
I've been playing cello for almost my whole life so I have a pretty decent understanding of what work this violin will need. Here's a list. The things in italics are things that MUST be done, and the others are possibilities:
The bow needs re-hairing. BADLY. I can't tell from the photo if the bow is wound or unwound, but either way it's too damaged at the base to be used for playing at all. It has to be re-haired to make a sound. That will set you back about $50, perhaps more depending on the quality of the materials. It's possible the bow will need replacing completely if it's cracked or splintered. That can set you back anywhere from $50-150.
If the bow is in such poor condition, the strings will definitely need replacing too. If you want quality strings you're looking at 30-60 dollars per string. Even if the violin hasn't been used at all, it's a copy so the strings are going to be cheep steel and will need to be replaced if you don't want the violin to sound like a lamb being slaughtered.
I can see the bridge has shifted. If it's cracked or damaged it will need to be replaced, but that's cheap and easy to do, a new bridge would probably be under $20 and you can often get them placed for free. In any case, the bridge will need to be shifted back into position. Most string players can do that for themselves if they're not novices.
The pegs would also need to be checked. If the fire head has melted or warped the tuning pegs they will need replacing or fixing too. I'm not sure what that would cost because I've never needed to replace pegs, but I estimate it would cost around $20-50.
ETA: I just looked at the photos with zoom and three of the four tuning pegs down the bottom are completely missing, so that would be $20-$50 to replace those pegs. Although you could theoretically tune the violin using just the top pegs, the bottom ones are for fine tuning and it would be extremely difficult to get the violin exactly in tune without them, especially without perfect pitch or an electronic tuner.
Then there is the possibility of the body being damaged. If the violin was in the same room as the fire, even if it didn't get burned that is going to irreparably change the sound the violin makes. String instruments are incredibly sensitive to heat and cold. I know my cello can go way out of tune in just a matter of a few hours when it's a hot (over 100f/36c) day so I can't even imagine what that violin sounds like. If Chris is lucky, there's no melting, cracking or warping to the instrument from heat, although all are distinct possibilities. Those things can technically be fixed, but by the time you've fixed the bow, the strings and the body you would have paid well over the $200 he asked and could have yourself a brand new $500 violin.
It is incredibly irresponsible of him to sell models that have been opened as factory sealed. It's ridiculous that he doesn't mention the obvious water damage to the boxes. However, even if he were asking a reasonable price for the violin (and even if, pre-fire, the violin had been assessed as being worth $200) it is damn near criminal to not tell anyone that violin survived a house fire. It is essential to a musician to know that and they may well end up with an instrument that is completely useless to them and needs to be thrown away.
