Not just a motion detector

     When Chris Gleason received a call for a motion alarm Saturday night, March 25th, he requested police be dispatched and pulled up his camera system to see what was going on. Once he had his cameras pulled up, he looked in the area which received the alarm, only to realize the camera was offline. Unknown to Chris, a motorhome that was kept at the business had a fire breakout within it and had started burning the building.  “In my mind, maybe someone has cut the camera. You know they’ve gotten in the area, they’ve cut the camera and they’re making off with some stuff. But then as I switched through the other cameras in that same general area I noticed they were all whited out and I don’t know why but for some reason I guess I didn’t even think about it being fire because we’re a steel company. Everything we have is steel, no wood, the building is steel the floors are concrete and we don’t really have much to burn. Except for a 40-foot motorhome.” said Gleason.

Luckily, a motion sensor was able to pick up the burst of heat from the fire erupting from within the motorhome and police were in route. A passerby also noticed smoke coming from the building and called in the fire. By the time Chris arrived at his business, fire fighters had the burn well under control and were able to salvage the building. “It worked out really well and the system did what it was supposed to do”.

After reviewing the security camera footage, fire investigators were able to pin point the origin of the fire within the motorhome. The motion sensor that initially detected the wave of heat was completely destroyed, but the camera which was mounted right next to it was undamaged, only the wiring had to be replaced. The fire department plans to use the video footage for training purposes to show how quickly a fire can spread.

Fire is one of the least common things that is thought about for both home and business when it comes to security. Protecting yourself is very important, because a fire can consume a building within a matter of seconds. Give us a call to discuss your fire protection needs! ​