For Novato’s Fireman’s Fund, a piece of bridge history [The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.]

May 27--A local insurance company played a big role in construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, being celebrated Sunday upon its 75th birthday.

On Nov. 4, 1930, residents of Marin and five other counties voted to borrow $35 million to finance the bridge. The plan was to pay back the bond with future bridge tolls, and residents put up their homes and businesses as collateral.

With citizens' assets at stake, completion of the bridge was crucial. To protect residents from the risk of a failed project, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. -- then in San Francisco, now one of Marin's largest employers -- underwrote a construction surety bond ensuring the project would be finished.

"We were involved with similar bridge contracts such as the Bay Bridge," said Bruce Petersen, senior vice president of commercial insurance products for Novato-based Fireman's Fund. "We've had a long history here in the Bay Area."

Founded in 1863 in San Francisco, Fireman's Fund has played a role in several historic events. The company paid claims to victims after major fires in Chicago and Boston in the 1870s, and in 1927 it insured construction of the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris.

In 1982, the same year it moved to its current location off San Marin Drive in north Novato, the company underwrote a major refurbishment contract for the Golden Gate Bridge.

The company recently turned over its specialty

division, which includes business lines such as the bridge insurance, to its parent, Allianz Group.

With about 1,000 employees in Novato, it continues to provide other types of insurance for individuals and businesses and has become the top insurer for the movie industry.

"Not only are we there to pay claims for the things you would expect, but we really do help stabilize the economy in a way that we can build a bridge, in a way that we can make a film," Fireman's Fund spokeswoman Janet Ruiz said.

Contact Will Jason via email at [email protected] or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/willjason

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(c)2012 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.)

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