Fire division ignites growth of secure us in West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.V.--Fire is the fastest growing portion of Mitch Brozik's security company. "The fire side is about 20 percent of annual sales," said Brozik, president of Secure US, a full service alarm and monitoring company that had revenues of $3.2 million last year and anticipates $4.5 million this year. Brozik said add-on products, ancillary sales--service maintenance and inspection contracts-- and monitoring associated with his fire business and his state's strict enforcement of code are responsible for the steady growth in this division of Secure US. "Ancillary side revenues come from systems we install--service maintenance contracts and annual inspections go along with the systems," Brozik said. "Depending on the type of system, sometimes we do inspections quarterly." As a Honeywell dealer, Secure US installs Notifier fire systems exclusively. Because of increased demand, Brozik added four--there are now seven-- Notifier certified fire technicians to his staff. Of the states he does business in--West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and Kentucky--West Virginia is the most proactive in enforcing fire codes, he said. This translates into higher demand for fire products and services in Secure US's main geographic territory. Just having optimal fire codes in a jurisdiction does not ensure that the codes are followed, a fire industry specialist said. "Many states have good codes on the book, but some states are better than others at enforcing the code," said Nancy McNabb, director of government affairs for the National Fire Protection Association. "In West Virginia we do all submittals (of fire alarm designs) in advance. They have to be stamped by the fire marshal before the installation can begin," Brozik said.