BRIGHTON, Utah — Living in Big Cottonwood Canyon for almost 30 years, Barbara Cameron says she and her neighbors have done everything they can to prevent wildfires.
“You'll notice some of the trees are limbed up. They limb up to six to 10 feet to keep a wildfire going through on the ground. You don't want it to crown on the trees," Cameron said.
Despite those efforts, many insurers don’t want to cover homes in Utah anymore, Parowan resident Franklin Smith said.
“We've never had a flood,” he said. “We've never had a fire. We've never had smoke damage. We've never had anything we’d file on hazard insurance for, yet, we're treated like we're going to blow up tomorrow.”
Smith said multiple companies have canceled his homeowner’s insurance policies recently.
“Our fire danger, in my opinion, is really low,” said Smith. “We have a massive amount of defensible space, but no human being will talk to you on the phone about reassessing your fire hazard rating.”
Rep. Casey Snider (R-Paradise) is introducing a bill this current legislative session that would create a state-specific map of risk areas. But as long as insurers continue using the national mapping tools to assess wildfire risk, Rick J. Lindsey, the chairman of XInsurance, doesn’t recommend having multiple policies for different hazards.
“You're buying a policy that, if you ever use, is going to go away, and it's not going to perform the way that they want it to,” he said. “Buy one policy, because two policies are never going to agree, and that's what lawyers play off of.”
Lindsey said Utahns have to accept the fact that good insurance is going to cost a lot more, but it’s worth it in the end.
“I ask people, ‘Do you want cheap insurance or you want real insurance that will survive the claim?’” he said.
Cameron believes it’s worth it to pay for peace of mind.
“It's just such a beautiful place,” she said of her home in the forest. “I don't think I'd want to move away, but you've got to consider the risks and the cost of home insurance.”
