EMERgency24 donates $1K to Indiana volunteer fire department

Oct. 13, 2008
Ohio Township Volunteer Fire Department’s quick response saved Newburgh home

NEWBURGH, IN – EMERgency24, an industry leading central-station alarm monitoring company, donated $1,000 through its Responder Reward program to the Ohio Township Volunteer Fire Department in Indiana on behalf of Five Star Security Systems of Newburgh, Indiana.

The Responder Reward donation was made to acknowledge the important roles emergency responders and alarm-system installers play in keeping our communities safe by protecting lives and minimizing property damage. A perfect example of how the two work together took place in a new home adjacent to Victoria National Golf Club, in Newburgh, Indiana.

Six months after a family moved into their dream home, it could have been lost to a fire had it not been for the robust security system designed by Five Star and the fast response by the Ohio Township Volunteer Fire Department after being dispatched by EMERgency24. The fire started when materials on the kitchen island ignited after the family’s cat stepped on a button, turning on burners of the flat-top range.

There were two factors that helped save the curious cat and minimize damage to the million-dollar home. First was the installation of a heat detector in the kitchen when a smoke detector would have satisfied code requirements. The second factor was immediate dispatch by EMERgency24.

“A fire doubles in size every 60 seconds,” said Chad Bennett, owner of Five Star Security Systems and Assistant Chief of the Newburgh Volunteer Fire Department. “The heat detector provided an early alarm because that type of device looks only for heat. The fire would have had to burn much longer to set off smoke detectors installed in other areas of the home. At the same time, if the alarm system was not monitored by EMERgency24, the fire would have continued to grow until a neighbor saw smoke billowing out of the eaves. At that point, there would have been much more damage. The overall effectiveness of the alarm system is enhanced many times over with a monitoring service. This is a cost worth paying for.”

EMERgency24, headquartered in Chicago since its founding in 1967, is a nation-wide provider of central-station alarm-monitoring services with branches in Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. The company monitors 165,000 subscribers’ accounts.