MALIBU, Calif. – Crews are getting ready for the 38th annual chili cook off in Malibu and Paul Grisanti remembers when it first started.

He’s a longtime Malibu resident and was even part of the planning committee as a member of the Kiwanis club when it first started.

He says “it’s a summer tradition here in Malibu.”

Now, the Boys and Girls Club handles the event, but Grisanti still likes to come each year and support his community.

“Its a wonderful place for people to come back after the summer," said Grisanti. "Run into the people they haven’t seen in six months or a year.”

But this will be the first chili cook off since fires devastated Malibu and many are still rebuilding after their homes were destroyed.

Grisanti has two homes in Malibu, both untouched by the flames, but he's still feeling the effects of the fire because the insurance on a rental property he owns just got canceled.

“We got notice about two months ago that the insurance company that we had was not interested in renewing with us and that we would need to find another company,” he said.

Once he found another company to insure his home, the cost skyrocketed. 

Gristanti and his wife have been paying about $3,970 a year for fire insurance, now, they’ll be paying just under $16,000 dollars a year.

“It’s an extra thousand dollars a month, which makes the income property a little less productive than what we hoped,” said Gristanti. 

But he's is not alone. New data collected by the Department of Insurance shows insurance is becoming harder to find for those in high wildfire-risk areas as a result of recent wildfires. 

Which means higher rates or being dropped altogether is something many of Gristanti's Malibu neighbors should expect to see whether their homes were damaged by the fire or not.