Their American dream could literally go up in flames.

Bridget and Steve Snyder bought a little cabin 11 years ago and started a new life together in Story, Wyoming, a small town about 15 miles south of Sheridan.

Not long after, Steve’s mom had a quintuple-bypass heart surgery and his stepdad developed multiple myeloma related to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam.

“So, we decided instead of buying our own property and building a home, which was our plan, that we’d just build a large addition onto the cabin here,” Steve said. “That way, we could be here to take care of them.”

Steve runs a carpentry business, so he and his wife did most of the work themselves, even going so far as to hand mill their own lumber to save on costs.

Their home is now 3,900 square feet and has enough room for Steve, Bridget and their children, as well as Steve’s mom and dad.

But one thing it doesn’t have right now is homeowner’s insurance.

Four months before the Elk Fire started when it was time to renew their policy, the couple found out that their insurance company was no longer willing to insure them.

Now a 96,000-acre wildfire burning across the face of the Bighorns is threatening their home and others near its path.

The Answer To One Simple Question

Bridget and Steve immediately started searching for a new insurer, but the first question knocked them out each time. It was a simple question, one that’s a yes for almost any homeowner in Story.

“All of the other companies that I talked to asked if there’s a tree within 100 feet of your house,” Bridget said.

The couple’s cabin, built in 1954, sits within 2 feet of a neighbors’ property line, grandfathering it in as far as setbacks go.

That means the old trees that hang over their newly expanded cabin don’t even belong to them.

But because of the trees, almost all of the insurers they talked to wouldn’t even consider insuring their home for any amount of money.

“We had to call our bank, and we are like, nobody is insuring in Story,” Bridget said.

The banker did a little research before getting back to the couple.

“He told us there’s a lot of people up here who have been dropped,” Steve said. “They think that probably 50 to 60% of the people that they finance up here in Story are not going to be able to maintain insurance any longer.”

For sale signs have started popping up in Story, Bridget added.

“Like last year, driving down Fish Hatchery (Road), you maybe saw one or two for sale signs,” she said. “This year, it’s like every other house. People are starting to get priced out, and it’s a lot of people who have been up here for generations.

“They worked their whole life and paid off what they have, but they can no longer afford to live up here because of property taxes and insurance.”

Homeowners Across The State Are Facing Similar Issues

Wyoming Insurance Commissioner Jeff Rude told Cowboy State Daily he’s hearing these kinds of stories from across the state.

“(Insurance companies) can non-renew for whatever reason they want,” he said. “And we know they’re intentionally trying to lessen their risk and get out of certain areas. Whether it’s hail or wind or, in this case, fire, if they are writing policies, they are significantly more expensive.”

Rude said the only advice he can offer is for consumers to keep “shopping around.”

“Our office has no authority over the rates,” he said. “I can’t tell a company how much to charge for their product. But they can shop around, and, what people need to know, is that sometimes agents only write policies for one company. So, if they can talk to another agent who writes policies for multiple companies, that might help them shop around more.”

Rude said Wyoming still has roughly the same number of insurers it’s had in the recent past.

“No one is pulling out of Wyoming in that regard,” he said. “They’re still here, writing business. It’s just that they’re either going to spread their risk around, so they’re not as concentrated in certain areas that they deem a greater risk, or their prices are just going up.”

The problems, Rude added, are not confined to Wyoming. Other states are wrestling with the same issues. And the problems are not just about perceived risk rising in certain areas of the state. Inflation is playing a role as well.

“It’s the cost of building materials, cement, lumber — all of that has gone up,” he said. “That makes rebuilding homes cost more, and that makes insurance cost more.”

Rude said he doesn’t see much appetite in Wyoming for any legislative solutions to the problem.

“Could the state of Wyoming, for example, come up with a reinsurance pool that the state pays for to lessen certain group’s insurance rates?” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to do that. I don’t think they would.”

Rude said there have been discussions about underwriting insurance for other groups like ambulance drivers and doctors, but the sense he gets from Wyoming legislators is that they don’t want to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

Trying To Hold Onto The American Dream

The Snyder’s banker was eventually able to locate a policy for the couple’s construction loan in spite of its proximity to trees.

That company wanted $15,000 a year, with $7,000 of that up front. The $7,000 all at once is not something the couple has been able to do. All of their cash is tied up right now in construction loan payments.

“I think very few people can afford $12,000 or $15,000 a year for insurance on top of a (loan), and then on top of the property taxes,” Steve said, noting that the couple’s property taxes have gone from $1,200 per year to $3,600.

“We’re trying to build the American dream,” he said. “Build a house for our family.”

But it’s increasingly hard to hold onto that dream.

“This is not just a little Cracker Jack box,” Bridget said. “This is something my husband and I have built together. When we started it, I was pregnant with our 4-year-old and I was working right alongside the guys helping stand up walls and boards.”

Snow and rain have come to quench the Elk Fire, and the couple are beyond relieved about that. But they can’t help but wonder what’s going to quench the economic fire they and other Americans face.

“We know we’re not the only ones,” Bridget said. “Our banker has a sister who lives over in Teton County, and she’s going through the same thing.”