News & Press

Charlie Wetzel on Alarm Monitoring

Charlie Wetzel is InterTECH Security's Technology Officer. He has an extensive background in the security and life safety fields, making him a good person to ask about alarm monitoring. Charlie offers some helpful insight on alarm monitoring to business and residential customers:

What is the most important thing to know about monitoring?

Start with the fire alarm. For commercial buildings, a lot of municipalities require it. Even in the areas where it isn't required though, everyone should have their fire alarms monitored by an off-site central monitoring station. Early detection of a fire is crucial. Do that, and have your fire system tested regularly, and you'ver really reduced your risk.

The other thing people usually have monitored is their burglar alarm. What else should they be thinking about?

There are a lot of possibilities here - temperatures, water levels, really just about anything you could think of monitoring. Setting up your alarm system to alert you in the case of a power outage is another idea. A lot of systems need to be functional 24/7, and have a battery backup in case of an outage. Obviously, though, that battery won't last forever. Monitor your AC power, and the system will dial out when it has been running on battery backup for a certain amount of time.

Contact InterTECH Security's Customer Care department for more information on monitoring options.

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