> Later, insurance companies hired brigades to only put out fires on insured properties. In some parts of the world, insured properties were marked with metal

> Later, insurance companies hired brigades to only put out fires on insured properties. In some parts of the world, insured properties were marked with metal plaques (generically termed "Fire Insurance Marks" [1]) bearing the insurer's symbol/logo. This enabled the insurer's firefighting service to verify that they should protect the building. I've occasionally seen them on old buildings here in the UK. One I remember was a stylised representation of the sun, denoting The Sun Fire Office - which was founded in the 1700s and still exists as RSA Group plc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_insurance_mark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_insurance_mark