The Strawpump Volunteer Fire Department is poised to regain its fire service area in the eastern end of North Huntingdon.
Eighteen months after having its territory split between two adjacent volunteer departments, its fire insurance rating is now at an acceptable level, according to the township.
North Huntingdon commissioners on Thursday indicated that they would reinstate Strawpump as the lead department for its fire service territory. None of the seven commissioner voiced opposition to reinstating Strawpump’s fire service area.
The commissioners meet again Wednesday.
Strawpump fire Chief Ryan Senica asked the commissioners to reinstate its fire service territory because it Verisk Analytics Inc., a New Jersey-based fire insurance rating service, has indicated that Strawpump has a pathway to a rating of 5, which is an acceptable level as required when the township split its territory in November 2024.
Fairmont-Hahntown and Westmoreland City fire departments have been covering the area. A rating of 5 is the midpoint between the best and worst rating for a fire department’s ability to fight a fire.
Verisk is the parent company of Insurance Services Office, which determines a department’s fire suppression rating. Fifty percent of the rating is based on the fire department’s equipment, staffing, training and automatic aid. Another 40% is based on the adequacy of the water supply available from hydrants, the availability of alternative water sources and the volume and pressure compared to the amount needed to fight a fire, according to the company.
Senica, who became chief of the department in January 2025, said following the meeting that reinstating its fire service territory is an indication of all the work the volunteers have done over the past 18 months.
Commissioner Ronald Zona said that the commissioners had agreed that when Strawpump received an acceptable fire insurance rating, its service area would be returned to the department.
“They got the rating up to where it needs to be,” Zona said.
Reinstating the fire service territory would mean that Strawpump would have the full allocation the township gives to each of the municipality’s seven departments. Because Strawpump does not have a fire service territory, it was receiving only one-half of the allocation of $81,814 this year Senica had asked the commissioners last month to reinstate its fire service territory and its full municipal allocation.
Strawpump had its territory divided in 2024 because its insurance rating had dropped to 10, the worst rating in July 2024. Some residents within its fire service area had complained to the commissioners at that time that poor ratings resulted in an increase in their homeowner’s insurance.
“Essentially, the old ISO rating is history,” said Senica, of the 10 rating.
Harry Faulk, township manager, said he had contacted the fire insurance rating service to verify that Strawpump had improved its fire insurance rating.
North Huntingdon is in the midst of creating a fire services study committee with representatives from each of the seven departments and up to three commissioners and an an administrator, but Senica said it would not be fair for Strawpump to wait for that committee to make a recommendation to the commissioners.
“We have achieved that goal (fire insurance rating) and then you move the goal posts further away,” Senica said of the possibility of waiting for a recommendation from the fire services study committee.