City turns to outside firm on fire signals

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/20/2013 06:36:13 AM EST

LOWELL -- The city plans to contract with Mammoth Fire Alarms of Lowell to monitor the nonemergency fire signals that wireless fire-alarm boxes currently send to the city's dispatch center, City Manager Bernie Lynch announced Tuesday night.

The city's decision comes more than eight months after the city first sought bids for an outside firm to monitor the signals because dispatchers complained they did not always have time to acknowledge receiving the signals and notify property owners of them.

The nonemergency alerts, also known as "nonfire" signals, identify issues with fire-alarm systems that need addressing, such as problems with water flow in a sprinkler system or a low battery.

Lynch's announcement also comes just weeks after a city councilor raised concerns about the public-safety impact of the signals being ignored and the potential for alarm systems to fail during a fire because they were not fixed.

Mammoth Fire, which submitted the only bid to do the work, will start monitoring the signals at its central station on Walker Street in May. Until that time, Lynch said the city will try its best to address the nonfire signals coming to the dispatch center, but there likely will be a backlog.

The fire signals will still be sent directly to the city's dispatch center.

It will cost the city $15,000 to pay for the monitoring of the signals in May and June.

Advertisement

In the fiscal year that begins July 1, the city will pay for the service by collecting the $275 monitoring fee the council approved in 2009. Lynch said he was unsure how long the city has agreed to have Mammoth monitor the nonfire signals.

Lynch also said the city will pay East Coast Security Services of Salem, N.H., $50,000 to reprogram the wireless alarm system so that the nonfire signals are sent to Mammoth Fire. East Coast designed and installed the city's wireless fire-alarm system a couple years ago.

City Councilor Vesna Nuon praised Lynch for bringing on a Lowell company to handle the nonfire signals.

"I look forward to more of that in the city," Nuon said.

City Councilor Rodney Elliott, who had raised concerns last month about the signals not receiving the attention they deserve and lives possibly being put at risk because of that, said he was pleased the city now had a plan after months of deliberating.

But Elliott said he was concerned the city was turning to East Coast to reprogram the system.

In an October 2011 letter, then-Inspector General Gregory Sullivan wrote that East Coast charged residents and businesses a price for new fire boxes "that was not advantageous for the businesses and citizens of Lowell."

"They are the company that overcharged businesses to begin with and now we are giving them more money to fix the problem," Elliott said. "It does not make much sense."

Lynch told The Sun since the wireless system was set up by East Coast, they have to fix it.

The manager also said the city took a while to make the decision to go with Mammoth because it was evaluating options to monitor the signals in-house.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.