Back to Basics With Your Home Alarm System

I read about a fire at a Campton Hills home over the Thanksgiving weekend: http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2009/11/28/69193525/index.xml According to the story, a neighbor reported the fire, which is estimated to have caused $100,000 in damage.

Having a house fire is never a fortunate event and I'm sorry for the homeowner in the story.

Still, I think a story like the one above provides a moment to educate homeowners about fire protection and how we provide a service to homeowners that can help protect life and property.

Many people associate alarms only with "burglar alarms" and intruder protection. However, the fact is that residential alarms (at least those sold by Alarm Detection Systems) are as much fire alarms as burglar alarms.

When you get an ADS alarm, the core of the system is a panel/central unit that connects to various alarm devices (by wire or wireless depending on the system and homeowners' preferences). We are able to connect smoke and/or heat detectors in the same way as a burglar alarm device (e.g., motion detector). Unlike your burglar alarm, which is frequently turned on and off, your fire alarm devices remain active 24-7.

A substantial benefit of an ADS alarm is the monitoring aspect. Unlike battery operated devices found in retail stores, a monitored ADS alarm will quickly alert emergency personnel if a device is activated. The valuable minutes saved by a monitored alarm can make a huge difference in property or life loss. Moreover, ADS alarm devices can be "supervised" and can notify the user when there is an issue with the alarm system. This is much different than the retail smoke detector, which requires batteries and can be non-functioning without the user being aware.

Consider if the following examples are interesting to you:

1. A fire starts when you're not home. Nobody is home to do anything before its too late. A monitored ADS alarm will get help regardless of whether somebody is home. As a pet owner, I find it especially important to me that there is a monitored fire alarm. Even if you're not a pet owner, if you have valuables (think monetary and sentimental) that will be difficult to replace, a monitored fire alarm is difficult to beat.
2. A fire starts in your basement or garage, especially if you're sleeping. It may be minutes before you're awakened, confirm the fire, and contact for help. A properly monitored ADS fire alarm starts the process for getting help as soon as the fire is detected. People who have young children or newborn babies can really benefit from such protection. You may get more time to organize and escape during an emergency and help can get to you faster.
3. You are concerned about your ability to escape during an emergency. Perhaps your house is large or your bedroom is in a difficult location. Maybe, you don't get around like you used to. A fire alarm system may make you much safer.

To fully understand how a fire alarm system works and can work for you at your house, you should contact Alarm Detection Systems. (If you're outside the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, we may be able to recommend a reputable company in your area). Each house is different and each owner has different considerations. We can listen to your needs and provide recommendations to consider.

We are here to help you.

Working Hard To Be The Best

At ADS, it is a priority that we be leaders in the alarm industry. At all levels of our company, we have people working to acheive new certifications and become active in various organizations.

One of the big alarm organizations is the Central Station Alarm Assocation (CSAA). CSAA is the international association representing security companies, alarm monitoring systems, services, and products.

Ed Bonifas, Vice President, Alarm Detection Systems, Inc. was recently appointed to a two-year term as President of the Central Station Alarm Association. The official commencement took place at the 2009 CSAA Annual Meeting in Athens, Greece.

Bonifas has been a fixture in the alarm industry for over 30 years. While still in high school, he started working for the family-owned ADS, founded by his father. He has been a CSAA board member for a number of years, chairing several committees during his tenure. His expertise in the security field has made him a sought-after speaker at various industry conferences as well as numerous life-safety and public-safety forums.

Our organization is full of people like Ed Bonifas, who are leaders and innovators in their respective fields. We are constantly looking to existing employees and for new people to take us to new heights. We are here to serve you and your alarm needs.

Activity Assurance

Imagine a service where, every day, your parent or loved one is checked on to make sure they are OK. If everything is fine, you'll know. If something is wrong, you'll be contacted immediately. What is the value of this service to you?

At Alarm Detection Systems, we recently launched our eCare program. The eCare program provides numerous options for people looking for a PERS type service. We have a set of packages and options so that customers can chose the services they want and avoid paying for unwanted services.

One of the most exciting features of the eCare program is Activity Assurance. Activity Assurance is an option, which uses advanced sensors to make sure that a person is active and completing his/her routine.

Let's say that you have an elderly mother who lives alone. You enroll your mom in the eCare program and opt for the Activity Assurance feature:

Most Days: When your mom gets out of bed in the morning, her movement is detected by a small wireless motion detector. The eCare base unit "knows" that your mom is active and does nothing (after all, everything is fine). Even though you can't be there with your mom, you know that your mom got up that morning and started her day.

The Exceptional Day: Say there is the day where your mom does not get out of bed in the morning. The eCare base unit "knows" that there is no activity, which alerts ADS's Central Monitoring Station. The trained ADS operators immediately attempt to contact your mom through the base unit. (Assume that your mom does not respond to attempt to contact her). ADS's operators initiate phone calls to your mom's contact list, which includes you and a trusted neighbor. You receive a phone call from ADS's operators stating that your mom is not active, but that a trusted neighbor (who is also on the call list) has been contacted and is checking on her. Within minutes, you find out that your mom is in bed, immobile, with a terrible case of the flu.

These basic examples show how the eCare Activity Assurance service works. Every day that you don't receive a phone call from ADS, you know that your mom is active and going about her day. On the rare day when something is wrong, ADS operators begin to contact friends, family, and/or emergency personnel who can give assistance.

Activity Assurance is not limited to "getting out of bed" and can be used to verify activity in other aspects of a person's routine. For example, instead of getting out of bed, the eCare service can be set up to verify that a medicine cabinet or refrigerator door was opened on a given day. The beauty of it is that it provides exceptional piece of mind for you (and other loved ones), and it is passive and unobtrusive to the user.

At the beginning, I asked what the value of a service like this would be to you, a service that checks in on your mom, dad, grandparent, or friend every day (or twice/day) and verifies activity?

Is that kind of piece of mind worth $1.50/day? Through the ADS eCare program Activity Assurance costs $45 month with a $50 installation fee. Click here for a copy of our eCare brochure which shows options and pricing.