IMO.

The fire code laws don't exist to make insurance affordable, they exist to reduce the risk of fire in the first place. Fire departments, and regulations designed to limit fires, existed [link|http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_031400_firedepartme.htm|before] insurance:

The history of the fire service in the United States begins in New Amsterdam (later New York), when Director-General Peter Stuyvesant appointed four fire wardens in 1648. Similar legislation followed in Boston in 1653, and this city purchased its first fire engine in 1654. Philadelphia secured an engine in 1719, and New York in 1731.

Early efforts at fire prevention and extinction relied on chimney laws, bucket brigades, simple ladders, and hand-pumped engines imported from Europe, all manned by loosely organized volunteers. Actual fire companies and departments, however, were active in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia early in the eighteenth century. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as other prominent men, were among the ranks of these early volunteers.


The earliest mention I've found of fire insurance is [link|http://www.firemarks.co.uk/History.htm|1667] in the UK.

Society doesn't merely exist to retroactively punish people for offense or lack of foresight - it exists to "promote the general welfare". Having safe public places certainly fits within that mandate.

Cheers,
Scott.