QBE is understood to be among the insurers that will pick up the bill for the blaze which devastated Southend-on-Sea's pier this week.
Loss assessors at the scene said the fire ripped through pubs, restaurants and the pier's railway station, causing up to £20m damage.
Southend Pier - the world's largest - has been besieged by disaster since it first opened 116 years ago, most recently when another fire obliterated the Essex landmark in 1995.
This has led some to question the viability of insuring a structure which has been struck by a major disaster in every decade since the 1950s.
QBE was unavailable for comment.
