Every year, 30-40 people are killed in California by carbon monoxide poisoning.  These deaths are considered to be preventable.  To that end, in March of 2009, the Governor of California signed into law SB 183, The Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act, which requires that all single family residences that have fossil-fuel appliances (gas heaters, dryers, stoves, etc.), fireplaces, or attached garages, must have carbon monoxide detectors installed in them by July, 2011.  Carbon monoxide detectors can be purchased from your local hardware store, and you can install one yourself.  Five Alarm Security also provides and installs monitored carbon monoxide detectors, so we can provide the additional protection of our UL Central Station, giving our subscribers unsurpassed protection against carbon monoxide poisoning.  Please contact us if we can help you out in any way, but definitely don’t delay on this - we have no idea how they police this, but the fines for not having a carbon monoxide detector in your home run in the hundreds of dollars!

I spent two days this week in San Francisco at First Alert Regional Meetings, more-or-less completely sequestered with product representatives from Honeywell as well as senior management from some other California security alarm companies.  As always, there was at least as much information exchanged during informal discussions with other owners as there was during the formal presentations.  Something that came up repeatedly over the course of the meetings was the term “connectivity”.  Security alarms have been historically limited, at least as far as connectivity is concerned, to the alarm transmitting information to the central station, at which time the central station will contact the appropriate individual(s) for the specific situation.  IP communication has turned that paradigm on its ear.  For years subscribers have been clamoring for something more than a static box hanging on a wall.  Other industries are connected; when is the last time you decided to disable the web access on your iPhone or your Droid - it didn’t last for long, did it?  But security alarms are historically the last person to the technology dance, and it has been the same for IP connectivity.  Until the past year, alarm communication was essentially limited to 300 baud modems!  Fortunately manufacturers, including Honeywell, DMP, and GE Security, have begun providing alarm devices that can actually be interconnected with.  The result is about to be a sea change in security alarms and the way subscribers interact with them.  Email notification, SMS texting from the alarm, remote access to the alarm via iPhone, Blackberry, and Droid, the ability to have full control of the alarm system from the computer of your choice - these are profoundy affecting what people want and expect from their security alarm.  Want to get a snapshot of your son or daughter when they come in the door from school?  Check.  Want to know what time your employees are locking up your store at night?  Check.  Want to disarm your system from halfway around the world so that you don’t need to give the contractor a user code?  Check.  Want to view live video from your iPhone?  Check.  Want a sensor on your medicine cabinet so that you get a text message if someone is breaking into your home?   Honeywell Total Connect is what we at Five Alarm Security have chosen as our platform of choice, because it is convenient, fast, and robust.  We’re always looking for ways to deliver the best suite of security services in the industry, and at an exceptional price.  Best, Sean

Holiday season - between Thanksgiving and Christmas - is many people’s favorite time of the year.  Historically, it’s also a significant time for home burglaries.  Not a year goes by that we at Five Alarm Security don’t get a phone call from a family whose home has been burglarized over the holidays, often while they’re inside, asleep.  That’s called a “hot prowl”, and it’s the scariest variety of burglary.  But whether you’re home or not, a burglary is an invasion and a violation.  There are ways to protect you, your family, and your home at this time of year.  If you’re going on vacation during the holiday time, and leaving your home unattended, it’s easy to take some basic, prudent precautions:

1.  Put your newspapers and mail on hold - nothing says “I’m not home” like a stack of newspapers and junk mail on your doorstep.  Ask a neighbour to pick up junk mail from your doorstep every couple of days.

2.  Buy a timer for your lights, and use it.  Your local hardware store sells them, and many of them can be set to randomize the times that things like your lights and television will turn on.  But make sure that lights are going on in the evening, so it looks like someone is home.

3.  Lock your doors and windows!  Many burglaries are crimes of opportunity, and something as simple as making sure your doors and windows aren’t easily opened can be the difference.

4.  Don’t leave things lying around your yard that can be used to break into your house.  Tools, ladders, etc. can be used to get into doors, second floor windows, etc.

6.  Park a car in the driveway - ask your neighbour to leave it there from time to time.  It will add to the perception that someone is home.  While you’re talking to your neighbour, ask them to watch for unusual or suspicious activity in the neighbourhood.

7.  A monitored security alarm system is a proven deterrent to break-ins.  Homes with monitored security alarms are significantly less likely to be burglarized than homes without them.  Five Alarm Security installs, monitors, and services a full line of burglar alarm systems that provide peace of mind while you and your family enjoy the holiday season.  And unlike your neighbour, who may or may not notice the buglar at your back door, a monitored security alarm is never affected by the rum in the eggnog OR the tryptophan in the turkey.

Sean, Ana, and the reason we do this

Welcome!

My name is Sean Hamm, and I’m the CEO of Five Alarm Security.  Along with my business partner and life-long friend, Ana, I started Five Alarm Security in 2003, with a stated objective of protecting the lives and assets of the people in the community around us.  Having worked for years as an executive for a larger nation-wide corporation, and feeling the vacuum that is left when a company can’t, or won’t, engage its community , we wanted to put down roots, both personal and corporate, in our adopted home town of San Diego.

This brief post that you’re reading is the beginning of an experiment of sorts.  Yes, we’re a security alarm company.  We install home and business security alarm systems, CCTV surveillance camera systems, monitored fire alarm systems, and intercom systems.  We have a substantial bag of tricks at our disposal, and we use them to help our customers protect the things they treasure most.  

But we’re a family, too.  Our founding partners, along with our  children.  Our staff and their families, some of whom have been with us since the day we opened our doors, or even before.  Our clients, who now number in the thousands, but each of whom have a stake in this venture.  Together, we are engaged in an extended conversation of sorts, and a partnership that only works if it works for everyone.

So we have this blog; this eSoapbox, my virtual Speaker’s Corner.  It will aim to be more than a collection of security tips,tools, anecdotes, and advertisements, but rather a catalyst for our engagement with the community at large, and a reflection of the things we treasure most as well.

Sean

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