Western States Fire Protection - Montana
The Western States Fire Protection Missoula, Montana office also includes 2 satellite offices located in Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana. Customers know Western States Missoula as Fire Protection Services. Western States Fire Protection purchased Fire Protection Services in 2005. Tom Hill is the current Operations Manager. Tom has 25 years experience in the fire protection field, starting with Fire Protection Services as a sprinkler fitter.
There are 27 employees in the Fire Protection Services Missoula office, with 9 office and administrative support staff and 18 field personnel. Along with Tom Hill, key staff include Dave Yaggy, a Salesman with 26 years of experience in the fire protection field (Dave started as a sprinkler fitter); Ross Reynolds, a Salesman with 20 years of experience in the fire protection field (Ross also began his career as a sprinkler fitter); Mike Anderson, a Sprinkler Inspector with 26 years experience in the fire protection industry (Mike started as a sprinkler fitter); Brett Wallace, an Alarm & Detection (A&D) Manager with over 21 years experience; Russ Smith, an A&D Technician with over 16 years experience in the fire equipment field (Russ began in the Alarm & Detection sector); and Darrin Overlie, a Project Manager with over 10 years expertise. The field personnel average over 15 years of fire protection system experience.
Fire Protection Services Missoula has a wide range of clients, including major hospitals, universities, production plants, hotels, government work, lumber facilities, industrial plants, high tech data centers, and residential (both multi-family structures and single-family dwellings). With the recent merger of APi Systems Integrators, FPS Missoula is now a one-stop shop, handling sprinkler systems, service calls, A&D, inspections, new installation, burglar, fire extinguishers, sound, access control, CCTV, fire alarms, special hazards and corrosion management, and much more. Between the Fire Protection Services Missoula office (and the two satellite offices listed above), the staff can provide 24-hour emergency service to virtually any town in Montana, including Billings, Glendive, Miles City, Wolf Point, and Glasgow.
The Fire Protection Services Missoula office is recognized throughout the region as an industry leader in the fire protection service market, and has received numerous unsolicited testimonials for the quality of their work. FPS Missoula has been acknowledged for fire sprinkler system work at numerous municipal and federal government facilities, as well as regional hotels. Some of the work involved retrofit and pipe replacement for fire sprinkler systems, and was accomplished on historic structures in sometimes challenging weather conditions.
Fire Protection Services Missoula has extensive experience in making sprinkler systems fully operational and up to code. Regarding poor records, FPS Missoula assists current and prospective clients with their documentation for insurance and code inspection purposes. Finally, Fire Protection Services Missoula specializes in working to upgrade and meet local code and builder's requirements, ensuring that a complete, reliable fire protection system is in place.
When asked about future trends in the fire protection field, Tom Hill noted several areas. First, Tom expects that radio monitoring will become more prevalent in many areas of Montana. With the use of backup power supplies and dedicated radio frequencies, radio monitoring can be more reliable than conventional wired alarm systems relying on utility-provided electrical power. Western States Fire Protection has its own monitoring stations, which will ensure fast response. A radio monitoring system can handle a wide range of A&D applications, such as fire and burglar/security situations. Tom also predicts that water-misting systems are the wave of the future in fire suppression. Another possibility for the future is retrofit work to sprinkler systems that are approaching end of service life. Finally, Tom foresees gas suppression systems being used for fire protection, especially for rooms and facilities housing banks of computer servers.
