[alex028502]

> Furthermore, only buildings were insured – neither their contents, nor the lives of their occupants, were covered.

Yeah it sounds to me from the article like the insurance was for the rebuild, and the firefighting was something the insurance company did to reduce their payouts.

So I imagine if you didn't have insurance, you still were at more risk than if you did, similar to now, because the fire dept isn't going to save everything every time.