Section 54E. Any company authorized to insure against loss or damage by fire, which has been actively engaged in the fire insurance business in one or more states of the United States continuously for ten years, or less than ten years with the approval of the commissioner, or whose predecessor or predecessors, if any prior to merger or consolidation, shall have been so engaged for such period, may, notwithstanding the provisions of sections forty-eight, fifty-one, clause (e) of fifty-four, or fifty-four B, insure against loss or damage to dwellings and appurtenant structures and to the contents thereof and any other personal property of a similar nature of the insured or members of his household resulting from any peril proper to insure against in this commonwealth, and may, in addition, insure against the legal liability of the insured or of members of his household arising out of non-business pursuits, and insure with respect to medical, surgical and hospital expenses; provided, that insurance against loss or damage by perils other than the peril of fire may be written only when insurance against the peril of fire is written in the same policy and on forms which have been submitted to and approved by the commissioner; and provided, further, that no such company shall issue any insurance under the authority of this section unless it possesses a surplus to policyholders of not less than four hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars or until it has made reinsurance arrangements satisfactory to the commissioner, as provided in section twenty.