I am considering buying the property in cash then hiring Servpro to fix the cigarette damage.

I would mention the damages to mitigate more however and let them know you will be doing inspections in the future because of what you found unless you are always in there anyways bc things keep breaking anyways. 

Does anyone have experience rehabbing fire-damaged properties?

Now you can advertise it as having a sump pump to prevent future water damage when you can sell.

There are a ton of complexities with properly repairing a fire damaged house....they sell really cheap for a reason.

In July of last year a roof leak developed and caused damage to the ceiling in my unit, to the point there was partial ceiling collapse. 

Options - collect full payment for the 3 months up front and lower the deposit to secure against damages only, require insurance.

Are landlords required to give photos to tenants of the areas of damages / lack of yardwork / etc or just an itemized list of the deductions?

The agreement is that your tenant will pay for any damages they caused.

If they failed to pay the bill and utilities are shut off, they are responsible for any damages caused.