| Fire Marks were
some of the first "signs" of insurance. Fire Marks
first began to appear in Britain in the late 1600s. At that
time, fire insurance policies were beginning to be issued, and
insurance companies employed their own fire brigades.
Marks, or plaques, which
clearly named the insurance company, were conspicuously placed
on buildings in order to identify which businesses and
residences were insured. A competing fire brigade working for
a competing insurance company would often pass a burning
building and stay on the scene to cheer or jeer the particular
brigade attempting to extinguish the blaze!
Fire Marks had the same
significance in the United States although volunteer fire
departments were more prevalent. The volunteer groups would
receive a reward or bounty of perhaps $50 for extinguishing a
fire. Such a magnificent sum in the early 1800s would often
precipitate fights between competing volunteer fire groups to
determine which one would have first crack at the blaze.
Consequently, volunteers were often recruited based on their
abilities to handle themselves in a fistfight as well as their
presumed fire-fighting skills.
Some units acquired a
reputation for fighting well! During the Civil War, for
instance, the Union officer in charge of the troop deployment
at Cemetery Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg packed the
center of the defense line with a company of Philadelphia
volunteer firefighters because they were the meanest soldiers
he could find!
With the advent of municipal
fire departments starting around 1865, volunteer brigades and
fire marks faded from the scene. Some marks, though, are still
are on the original buildings and not in collectors hands.
Most of these can be found in the historical area of
Philadelphia known as Society Hill.
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