Utahns saw the biggest percent increases for home insurance costs of anywhere in the country over the last few years, with an average jump of 59% from 2021 to 2024. That’s according to a March report from the Consumer Federation of America, a national research nonprofit.
Those higher costs are due in part to heightened wildfire risks. Wasatch Fire District leaders say they’ve heard from hundreds of locals for whom finding affordable insurance – or finding insurance at all – is a challenge.
Fire Marshall Clint Neerings said the fire district started hearing from residents in the Jordanelle Basin a few years back.
“I think we heard word of it probably five or six years ago in the Hideout area, of home insurance either being dropped or rates being increased,” he said. “Over the last five years, year to year, we get more and more.”
He said the number of people struggling to get or stay insured is only growing.
“We’ve had some HOAs document a sixfold increase on their insurance premiums,” he said. “We’ve got a wide range of homes throughout the county that cannot get insurance because they’re in the wildland urban interface, or face drastic rate increases just because of where they are located in the wildland urban interface.”
Neerings is referring to the area where development and wilderness meet or overlap. Properties in this zone are vulnerable to wildfires because they’re in closer proximity to fire fuel than urban developments. Most of the Wasatch Back falls in the wildland urban interface.
KPCW asked locals about their home insurance rates via social media. Those who responded said they’re experiencing sticker shock as premiums soar.
Deb Farrell, a Midway resident, said she expected her insurance costs to go up – but she said she couldn’t believe it when the cost spiked nearly 400%. “It’s way out of line and there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said.
Another Midway resident, Lonni Maddux, said their household is now paying $200 more every month to stay insured.
And Heber City Councilmember Scott Phillips said at a recent meeting he’s having trouble getting coverage for his home in Red Ledges.
Hideout is another area of Wasatch County struggling with insurance – the town’s hillside location means it would be easy for fires to spread. One homeowner said earlier this spring he’s reached out to 20 different companies after his policy was cancelled due to wildfire risk.
For residents who’ve been dropped by their insurance company, or who saw their premiums spike dramatically, the fire district says it can do a few things to help.
Mostly, firefighters work to educate homeowners about how to give their property a better chance of surviving should a wildfire spark nearby. For example, property owners can make sure there’s 10 feet of space between a house and the nearest tree branches.
And they can create what’s called “defensible space” around the property. Often, when homes burn down, it’s not because of flames reaching the structure directly, but because embers start nearby vegetation burning and spread the fire to the house. Replacing things like mulch with nonflammable materials can help reduce that risk.
The fire district can also share information with insurance brokers about how homeowners have tried to mitigate their fire risk.
“If they’re doing everything they can, we send them the report that they can then provide to their insurance company,” Neerings said. “Some are willing to accept it and take a look at it; some are willing to call us and have a discussion. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual’s insurance company if they do or do not want to accept that.”
Sometimes, insurance companies will also share their justification for denying coverage or making it more expensive.
“There was a lady we spoke with, right off of 2400 East in the valley – she was denied coverage because she’s in the wildland urban interface area,” Neerings said. “The insurance company’s justification for that was, she’s on a slope.”
And sometimes, companies will only insure a certain number of homes in areas with high wildfire risk.
Early in the season, Fire Chief Eric Hales said forecasts point to a normal fire year. But he emphasized fire is unpredictable, pointing to last year’s Yellow Lake Fire. It burned more than 33,000 acres after sparking Sept. 27, 2024, and it was at one point the highest-priority fire in the country.
“The biggest takeaway from Yellow Lake Fire is that it almost changed the game for us,” he said, “because here we had such a catastrophic fire, with fire behavior in October and November that you normally see in August and September.”
He said the unpredictability of the wildfire season makes it all the more important for homeowners to do what they can to mitigate the risk of a catastrophic fire.
To learn more about wildfire preparedness, visit beready.utah.gov.
