Western States Fire Protection - Texas (Houston)

The Western States Fire Protection Houston, Texas office services Houston and the surrounding areas. WSFP Houston opened in 1990. One of the original team members, Meg Heffernan, is still with Western States Fire Protection Houston, with over 21 years of experience in the fire protection field. Jay Finucane is the current Branch Manager. Jay has extensive expertise in the fire protection industry, with over 32 years of experience.

WSFP Houston is fully staffed, with office and support staff and field personnel. Office and field staff includes inspectors, division managers, foremen, fitters, project managers, and Fire Alarm technicians. Along with Jay and Meg, other key staff members are:

  • Paul McKenna is the Construction, Multifamily and Single family Manager. Paul is a graduate of Seneca College; he has 14 years of experience and 10 years with Western States Fire Protection Co.
  • Patrick Edwards is the Service and Inspection Division Manager; he has worked in the Industry for 15 years and 10 years with Western States Fire Protection Co.

Types of projects handled by Western States Fire Protection Houston include work with general contractors, universities, building managers, municipal and government buildings, construction companies, fire departments, high-rise office buildings, hotels, health care facilities, and hospitals, to name a few.

Western states is a full-service fire protection contractor, offering Sprinkler Service , Sprinkler Inspection, Fire Alarm Service, fire suppression installation, AES Radio Monitoring, Fire Pump Service, Controller service, tank refurbishment (taking an existing tank and rebuilding it for half the cost of a new tank), training fire departments and officials, 24/7 emergency call response (with most calls being responded to within an hour), and complete sales, installation and other service support, WSFP Houston truly delivers outstanding customer service.

The Western States Fire Protection Houston office and/or staff are members, participants or officers of the following professional associations:

  • TxFSCA Texas Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association
  • CIC Council, City of Houston
  • NFPA National Fire Protection Association
  • NFSA National Fire Sprinkler Association
  • NAWIC National Association of Women in Construction

When asked the top three needs/problems that WSFP Houston can correct/fix for their fire protection clients, Jay mentioned three areas. First, the Houston Fire Marshals are inspecting "high piled" storage in various buildings and requiring structure occupants/owners to complete engineering studies, ensuring their fire protection systems are up to code. Western States Fire Protection Houston is one of the few fire safety and fire system contractors in the region that can provide this service. Second, WSFP Houston can inspect any fire suppression system, identify the areas that are not to code, and correct/repair all potential violations/problem areas. Finally, responding to customers' emergency fire protection system needs. As noted above, Western States Fire Protection Houston certified service technicians typically respond within an hour of when emergency calls are received.

What does the future hold for WSFP Houston? Jay Finucane foresees a tremendous amount of retrofit fire sprinkler system work. Over 200 high-rise buildings in the City of Houston will require updating of the fire protection systems by 2017! However, Jay and his Houston team are confident that their combination of training, extensive fire protection system experience, and outstanding record of customer service make them ready to meet this challenge.

I am most proud of our commitment to training. All of our managers have completed training at the FMI Leadership Institute. 98 % of our Foremen are UA Star certified; our entire field staff has OSHA 10 and we are working toward OSHA 30 for all field personnel. We have 15 inspectors with NICET II in inspection, back flow preventer certification and an additional 6 NICET certified technicians in design. All of our field people complete a 5 year Apprenticeship prior to being allowed to foreman a project. We have several technicians certified in the following:

  • Fike suppression
  • Metron Controllers
  • FireTrol Controllers
  • Peerless Fire Pumps

Jay Finucane, Area manager