Recently, ATP Alarms has been receiving more and more inquiries from property owners and property managers regarding the fire protection in their respective buildings. Many of these phone calls are a result of their insurance underwriter wanting more protection on the properties that they are insuring. In many instances, properties only have “local” fire alarms. Meaning, if the alarm were to go off, it would only work locally. Also, with these local alarms, individuals can easily disconnect them, leaving their dwelling without fire protection. More seriously, this puts the other occupants of the building at serious risk! With that said, these property managers and property owners are being urged by the insurance companies to install monitored smoke protection .

With monitored smoke protection, individuals cannot easily disable their smoke detectors. If they do, the Fire Panel, typically located in a utility closet or basement, will show a “trouble”. This will allow the owner of the property or the property manager to address the situation as soon as possible. Sadly, not all property owners and managers have these types of systems. Having monitored fire systems can be the difference between life and death . If you would feel more comfortable with a monitored complex, do not hesitate to bring it up at your building’s next meeting. If you would like a member from ATP Fire to attend the meeting to go over some possible solutions, a representative from the company would be glad to help. If you would simply like to talk about possible solutions, give one of our offices a call.

In addition to fire systems, many real estate owners / managers are choosing to install surveillance systems to help monitor parking lots, entryways, laundry rooms, etc. I am sure many people living in apartment buildings have had clothing taken out of the washing machine without them knowing … imagine being able to go to your building supervisor to catch the culprit? How about that dent in your door due to a careless visitor? A camera system can assist in holding those accountable. In addition, just the presence of cameras serves as a deterrent to disruptive behavior. The amount of inquiries for camera systems has increased immensely throughout recent years. I attribute this to owners finally wanting to better monitor their properties and also because the technology of cameras and DVR’s / NVR’s has increased immensely.

ATP Alarms / ATP Fire is always willing to attend building meetings to help address any life safety or surveillance concerns . Members of our team have been in the life safety business for over 25 years and can offer several solutions to make a building’s environment much safer to live in.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us here at ATP if you have any questions relating to your security, fire, or surveillance systems. We aim to offer the most competitive, cost-effective and highest quality level of service to all of our customers.

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