Wildfire coverage important

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NEWPORT — Tom Costello of Newport Farmers Insurance says insurance, especially the right kind of insurance, protects people from financial loss when disaster strikes. He points to the Oregon Road fires, where one of his customers had his home burn to the ground.

“One customer lost everything,” he says. “Because he had the proper insurance, he was able to rebuild and didn’t suffer a financial loss.”

He said there were a lot of people who didn’t have coverage for wildfire. “A lot of policies exclude wildfire,” he says. “That’s why it is important to talk with your insurance agent.”

Along with with Office Manager Trisha Loose, Costello offers a variety of insurance products in addition to homeowner’s insurance, including business insurance, life insurance as well as auto and renters’ insurance. In recent years he’s offered Medicare Advantage plans, including selling insurance plans through Humana.

Providing people Medicare Advantage plans is rewarding, he says. “I really enjoyed it,” Costello says. The building at 309 S. Washington St. in Newport where Newport Farmers Insurance is located changed hands recently, Costello says.

“The new building owner is completely revamping the whole building,” he says. People will still be able to easily find his office, though.

“When you come in the door, you turn right instead of turning left,” he jokes. Costello, 57, grew up in Billings, Montana. He graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman, majoring in secondary education.

He taught one year before going into insurance. “My older brother got me into it,” he says of switching careers to the insurance industry.

His 30-plus-year insurance career has taken him to areas in Montana, Salt Lake City, Utah, and most recently to Fargo, North Dakota, where he lived for four years prior to taking over the Newport shop two years ago.

Fargo was another world, he says, particularly in winter. “Growing up in Montana, I thought I understood winter,” he says. Fargo gave him a whole new understanding, with winters where the temperature is often many degrees below zero for days and weeks at a time.

So the recent cold snap in Newport was no problem. “When it’s 3 below here, I just look to see what the temperature is in Fargo,” he says. “It’ll be 20 below there.”

While Costello has operated Farmers Insurance in Newport for two years, Farmers goes back more than 80 years in Newport.

Costello and his wife, Carol, have four adult children. While the adult children are scattered, (Fargo, Billings, Boise, and Post Falls) he and his wife he and his wife make their home in Deer Park.

He feels fortunate to have landed the Newport position. It’s close to his two grandchildren, Jane, 6, and Owen, 1, who live with their parents in Post Falls.

He like northeast Washington and the people here. “The people still like to have face-to-face, in-person contact with a local agent,” he says. “I think this will be where I retire.”