getting to the bottom of "fire marks"

https://youtu.be/Wif1EAgEQKI - 7 minute video - 1 million views in 1 day

old London - insurance companies would pay the first, second, and
third arriving fire companies at a building fire

so what was the purpose of having fire marks then?

something still does not add up here - if the insurance companies were
funding the fire companies - and the insurance companies were paying
only the first, 2nd, and third arriving fire companies - what was the
real purpose of the fire mark?

maybe the mark just told the fire company were to send a bill for
their services - without having to track down the owner and ask who
his insurer was

lets read the attached report and see what it says -
https://www.tomscott.com/corrections/firemarks/

ah - here we go - "Insurance companies also made additional payments
for hard work and bravery at fires, and made compensation awards for
injury or death.[47], [48], [49], [50], [51]"

so indeed - the fire mark would tell the FD where they could get money from