- Brenda Duncan Cusick moved from California to Arizona due to the rise in forest risks and lifestyle.
- CUSICK’s monthly expenses have dropped a few thousand dollars living in Prescott, Arizona.
- After retiring from the insurance industry, she began a local food visit.
After having lived in Moorpark, California, for almost two decades, Brenda Duncan Cusick had become an expert in the evacuations of forest fires.
Cusick, 61, told Business Insider that she had to flee the house she had shared with her husband and two children at least five times. Moorpark is an hour’s drive in the northwest of Los Angeles, near where Woolsey’s deadly fire in 2018 destroyed tens of thousands of houses. Over time, she saw how the flames became more difficult to control.
Forest fires have also affected CUSICK’s career as an insurance agent. Between 2015 and 2023, she sold owners, commercial and automotive policies, including for Farmers Insurance. But it has become more difficult to keep and attract customers because rates have tripled in some cases due to a combination of factors, Including the risk of fire, the increase in reinsurance costs and the Californian regulations, said Cusick.
“I have lost a lot of sales because people wanted to save on their insurance, but I advise you to wear more coverage,” said Cusick. “They had a house of $ 1 million and a small business, and I would tell them that they could lose everything they have worked to be under-help.”
Cusick said that the increase in forest risks – combined with higher insurance premiums, public service bills, gas prices and cars registration fees for his family of four – made him realize that it was impossible to retire in California.
She is not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Californians have left the state in recent years, often driven by high prices and, in some cases, natural risks in the event of a disaster.
Residents have among the highest average energy bills in the country, in part because public service companies have spent billions of dollars in forest fire -related costs that are partially transmitted to customers. California also has aggressive climatic policies that make oil and gas more expensive.
Willow Creek tank in Prescott, Arizona. Brenda Duncan Cusick
When the COVVI-19 pandemic gave Cusick and her husband the freedom to work remotely in 2020, they decided to sell their house and move to Prescott, Arizona. They joined the many older Americans who flocked to Arizona for retirement, citing comfortable lifestyles and times. Although there is little data indicating that the disasters fueled by the climate directly cause a massive migration, the history of CUSICK suggests that the costly wavy effects of forest fires on insurance and public services bills can help motivate people to leave their homes for a long time.
Save thousands a month and start a local food visit
Cusick said that at the beginning it was “intimidating” to consider leaving its original state.
“But once we did, we realized that there were so many beautiful places where to live everywhere in the United States,” she said, adding that her monthly spending has dropped a few thousand dollars.
They decreased from their 4 -bedroom house with 3 bathrooms in Moorpark to a 3 bedroom property with 2 rooms in Prescott. Cusick said that the sale of their California house had given them enough money for a major place in the new place in Arizona. Their monthly mortgage payment is now $ 1,672, compared to $ 3,309 in California, according to bank statements examined by Business Insider. Their utility bills and HOA in Arizona on average about $ 373 per month, while in California, they could range from $ 400 to $ 1,200.
Cusick said Prescott reminds him of growing up in California.
“It is a very western city in the mountains of Arizona,” she said, noting that Prescott is surrounded by a national forest.
Prescott was the capital of Arizona territory until the late 1800s, and every fourth July, it welcomed a large rodeo. The city center reminds Cusick a characteristic movement, she said. The history of Prescott, the cooler summer temperatures and the location between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon help it attract thousands of tourists each year.
After Cusick retired from the insurance industry, she got involved in a local charitable organization and began the Prescott food tour.
“It is completely the opposite to sell boring and impossible insurance,” she said. “I do not do anyway near what I did before, but when you are retired, you can do things like that.”
Do you have a story to share on the release of an area subject to forest fires or the rise in home insurance costs? Contact this journalist cbedreau@businessinsider.com.
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