Pye-Barker acquires Mountain Alarm and Yarnell Security Systems

ATLANTA, Ga.—Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, based here, has acquired super regional systems integrator Mountain Alarm Fire & Security, headquartered in Ogden, Utah, and comes on the heels of the purchase of Yarnell Security Systems, based in Lancaster, Pa.

Both Mountain Alarm and Yarnell will retain their name and teams, and Mountain Alarm will continue to be led by CEO Eric Garner, the existing management team, and their highly skilled team members. Financial details were not provided for either deal.

Garner, an SSN Class of 2016 “40 under 40” winner, said this is the perfect scenario for Mountain Alarm. “We got access to the capital we wanted, we get to keep our name and keep the management team in place, and our team is super excited about the future for the company,” he told SSN. “This was a great deal. Instead of being limited to our industry banks, we now have the backing of significant equity partners, as there are some equity players behind Pye-Barker.”

Pye-Barker CEO Bart Proctor noted in the announcement, “Mountain Alarm’s ability to acquire alarm companies, elevate the customer experience, and integrate those companies into their software systems made them the perfect fit to be our platform for acquiring alarm companies. We are excited to have the Mountain team join us in growing Pye-Barker.”

Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, founded in 1946, is a leader in fire protection and life safety, with more than 100 locations and more than 3,000 team members. It is a full-service company offering all the necessary specialties, including portable extinguishers, restaurant fire suppression, special hazard systems, fire sprinklers, fire alarm, and security. Pye-Barker invests heavily in providing the best-in-class training for its team, while offering industry competitive benefits and is rapidly expanding its national footprint.

“The last few years I have paid close attention to Pye-Barker as they have acquired over 90 fire and life safety companies,” said Garner. “I thought we were acquisitive with four or five acquisitions per year.  I had to meet the Pye-Barker team to understand how they were performing close to 20 acquisitions a year. Almost immediately I realized that our vision for the industry, our company culture, and growth objectives were aligned. I knew partnering with Pye-Barker would allow us to continue to expand the business at a rapid pace, while providing limitless opportunity for our team.”

Vision for Future

Garner told SSN he is very excited for the future of the company, as well as what Pye-Barker can mean for the security industry. “They didn’t buy us to try and consolidate or have us do it their way,” he said. “They bought us because we can help them do it our way.”

As somewhat of a new entrant into the security space, Garner pointed out that Pye-Barker is “a great option for people who are thinking of retiring or taking some chips off the table, but still want to continue to participate with the parent company in a big way.”

Garner is also excited about the kind of reach Mountain will now have. “Our vision for this combined company, if you can picture a three-legged stool, we now have fire extinguisher, fire sprinkler and alarm, which covers fire and security, access, CCTV – all things life safety that’s electronic. We will have a CEO and president over each leg of the stool, and we are doing acquisitions in all of our respective areas.”

In regard to the recent acquisition of Yarnell, Garner said, “On the backend, we will try and integrate systems, try to get best practices and efficiencies driven to the different locations.”  

With 14 locations across the Intermountain West, Mountain Alarm is the preferred provider of alarm monitoring, installation, maintenance services, and inspection services for fire alarms, security alarms, CCTV systems, and access control systems in its regions.

Mountain Alarm is a family business that was founded in 1952. Today it has over 60,000 monitored accounts and over 350 team members. Mountain Alarm has a long history of growing both organically and through acquisition, having completed five acquisitions in 2021 and a total of 13 over the last three years, including $2.6 million in recurring revenue, Garner said.