Acquisitions with Fortis Fire & Safety

Partnering with Fortis Fire & Safety means continuing your legacy in fire protection services while expanding your reach and opportunities. We prioritize maintaining your business processes and fostering a seamless transition for you and your team. Joining our Owners’ Advisory Council ensures your voice shapes Fortis’ future direction and culture.

Our commitment to people extends to your employees, whom we support with apprenticeships, certifications, and career development. Competitive wages and comprehensive benefits reflect our dedication to long-term careers in fire protection.

Customer service remains at our core. By investing in our team, we enhance the service and support your customers receive, safeguarding their property, assets, and safety.

Interested in learning more? Check out the full article on the Fortis website, here.

Succession Planning: Ensuring Growth with Fortis Fire & Safety

Succession planning is critical for the longevity and stability of businesses, especially family-owned enterprises. Randy Nelson, President of VFS Fire & Security Services, made the strategic decision to sell his company to Fortis Fire & Safety in 2021, ensuring its future sustainability. Fortis not only provided financial security but also enhanced benefits and job stability for employees.

For business owners contemplating succession, Fortis offers customizable solutions, accommodating preferences for retirement, semi-retirement, or continued active involvement in business operations. Discover how strategic acquisitions and robust planning contribute to business continuity and growth with Fortis Fire & Safety.

Check out the full story on the Fortis website, here.

Fortis Fire & Safety Strengthens California Operations with CJ Suppression Acquisition

Fortis Fire & Safety has acquired CJ Suppression Inc., expanding its California presence significantly. CJ Suppression, based in Corona, CA, joins Fortis’s growing family of fire protection services. This move strengthens Fortis’s foothold in California, which began with the acquisition of VFS Fire & Security Services in Orange County.

Rich Ennis, CEO of Fortis, expressed excitement about welcoming CJ Suppression, highlighting its high-quality operations and customer service culture that align perfectly with Fortis’s values. J Moyer, the founder of CJ Suppression, emphasized that the decision to partner with Fortis was based on shared values and a commitment to putting people first. The acquisition promises significant benefits for both CJ’s customers and employees, leveraging Fortis’s multi-regional capabilities and resources.

John Solonynko, COO of VFS, noted that CJ Suppression’s integration into Fortis is a strategic move to enhance their multi-regional presence. Fortis continues to seek additional acquisition opportunities nationwide, aiming to build a leading fire protection service company through strong regional partnerships and advanced technology investments.

Read the full story on the Fortis website, here.

How CJ Suppression’s Founder Ensured a Win-Win Acquisition with Fortis Fire & Safety

James “J” Moyer knows fire safety. Starting as an entry-level pipe fabricator in 1987, he learned every aspect of the industry before founding CJ Suppression in 1996. After nearly 30 years as owner, Moyer considered the future and was approached by Fortis Fire & Safety about an acquisition. He found comfort in the support Fortis could provide in running his business.

The decision was emotional for Moyer, but he ensured that everyone involved would benefit and that the company culture would allow everyone to thrive. Fortis Fire & Safety’s nationwide presence offered his team opportunities for growth and access to additional resources. Moyer sold his company to Fortis and stayed on as president of CJ Suppression, remaining integral to the company’s fabric. Fortis aligned with his goals, whether it was retirement, semi-retirement, or continuing in a leadership role.

Moyer appreciated Fortis’s commitment to maintaining smooth business operations and continuously enhancing processes. The collective efforts of the Fortis team are focused on fostering growth and delivering exceptional customer service. For Moyer, acquisitions with Fortis are about more than making deals; they prioritize relationships, driving business and building a nationwide powerhouse in fire protection.

If you’re an owner of a fire protection company, consider how an acquisition with Fortis Fire & Safety might benefit both you and your team.

Read the full story on the Fortis website, here.

‘We got lucky’: inside California’s strangely quiet wildfire year | Corona, CA

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a group of people standing next to a forest filled with fire

Gabrielle Canon

In California, a state that’s grown accustomed to months of smoky skies, mass evacuations and the ever-present fear of wildfire, 2022 felt unusual.

Summer came and went, the weather warmed, and the hillsides yellowed across the state, while residents held their breath. But a giant blaze or siege of simultaneous infernos – the events that have defined recent fire seasons – failed to appear.

By the time November rains brought relief to the drought-stricken landscape, slightly more than 360,000 acres had burned. That’s a strikingly low number, compared with the 2.2m that burned on average annually in California during the past five years, and only a fraction of the record 2020 season when more than 4.2m acres burned.

The number of fires sparked remained similar to past seasons, indicating most were stopped before they ballooned in size. Resource availability played a role, but so did helpful timing, as weather conditions continuously aligned in California’s favor, ensuring enough firefighters were available to battle each blaze from the onset.

But even with smaller numbers, the state wasn’t spared. Fires may have been comparatively smaller than previous years, but some still burned fiercely, leaving devastation in their wake. Nine people lost their lives and communities were destroyed. The patches of high-intensity burning that consumed mountain towns and turned tree-covered slopes into moonscapes offer a glimpse of the risks that remain, as well as a reminder that it could have been a lot worse.

“There is this element of luck to it – and this year, we got really lucky,” said Lenya N Quinn-Davidson, an area fire adviser with the University of California’s Cooperative Extension, a research institution. Despite the welcome reprieve brought by fewer acres burned, the dangers posed by the climate crisis have not dulled. She and other experts say the perceived lull is more of an anomaly than a hopeful trend. But it does offer an opportunity.

To continue to read this article, click here.

For more information about CA wildfire season, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.

Designing Your Fire Suppression System | Corona, CA

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When it comes to protecting your home from fire, it is important that you consider a suppression system custom-tailored to your particular home. Fire suppression systems are determined by federal, state, or local codes – laws which dictate certain suppression requirements depending on the type of materials and nature of the environment. And one area where technology is ahead of standards is in the energy storage space. Residential and commercial battery units often contain powerful batteries, and in many cases can pose a fire risk that can be addressed with a custom designed suppression system.

Fire safety standards exist for small scale lithium-ion batteries – such as those in phones and laptops – but fires in these components are very rare: many are designed such that they fail in safe ways, resulting in fire rates of approximately one in every 10 million devices. Larger battery systems, such as Tesla’s Powerwall home battery, are much newer, and fewer standards regulating both their manufacturing and operational suppression systems exist. While Tesla is known to test these units internally in order to understand their behavior in case of fire, many fire departments have little experience with these units, and no standards exist for suppression requirements in residential spaces.

Buyers considering such devices – either in residential or commercial spaces – may consider contacting a suppression firm for expert consultation. In spaces with other installed suppression systems, the suppression system designer should consider whether or not the type of suppression is appropriate for the chemical battery – in some cases, a wet suppression system may be less ideal than a dry system. Owners in residential spaces, or spaces without installed suppression systems, can consult a suppression profession to determine if suppression systems are recommended.

For more information about custom suppression systems, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.

‘We got really lucky’: Why California escaped another destructive fire season in 2022 | Corona, CA

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a group of people standing next to a forest filled with fire

BY HAYLEY SMITH – STAFF WRITER

Despite months of warnings fueled by extreme heat and drought-desiccated conditions, California’s deadly fire season ended with remarkably little area burned, with just 362,403 acres scorched in 2022, compared with more than 2.5 million acres the year prior.

Standing in a field of dry, brown grass in Napa this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and several state officials gathered to mark what they described as “the end of peak wildfire season” in most of California, attributing the year’s relatively small acreage to massive investments in forest health and resilience projects and an expansion of the state’s firefighting fleet.

But although the worst of the season may be behind us, experts noted that the remarkably reduced fire activity is probably less a factor of strategy than good fortune.

“We got really lucky this year,” said Park Williams, an associate professor of geography at UCLA. “By the end of June, things were looking like the dice were loaded very strongly toward big fires because things were very dry, and there was a chance of big heat waves in the summer, and indeed we actually did have a really big heat wave this summer in September. But that coincided with some really well-timed and well-placed rainstorms.”

Indeed, two of the year’s biggest fires — the McKinney fire in Siskiyou County and the Fairview fire in Riverside County — were both left smoldering after the arrival of rainstorms, including the unusual appearance of a tropical storm in the case of the Fairview fire, which helped significantly boost its containment.

To read more of this article, click here.

For more information about wildfire season, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.

Heating Up Your Space with a Space Heater | Corona, CA

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a bunch of different types of air conditioners

Autumn seems to have arrived on time this year. And as the days get shorter and the temperature falls, it is a top priority to keep ourselves warm. For many of us, it is a daunting, and expensive, task warming up a large space. This idea has been replaced with the use of a space heater, a smaller version of a heating system specifically for small spaces. But there are things you need to keep in mind to remain warm – and safe. After all, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimates that nearly 1700 residential fires every year are due to space heaters, and 81% the cause of house fires caused by heat.

As a general rule of thumb, electric space heaters are typically safer than portable fuel-burning models. Choose a unit that is labeled by a nationally recognized testing laboratory to ensure that the heater meets voluntary safety standards. Overuse, accidentally knocked over by a pet, and faulty wires are just a few examples that could cause your heater to malfunction and unnecessarily cause a fire.

When setting up, keep it at least 36 inches from any flammable or combustible materials and place it on the floor, unless it is designed otherwise. Do not put them directly on rugs and carpets or use them to dry wet clothing.

When using a fuel-fired space heater in an enclosed area, it is a good idea to leave a window or door partially open to allow for fresh air to enter to help prevent carbon monoxide (CO) buildup or a depletion of oxygen. If you smell gas anywhere near your heater, do not attempt to light it. A spark could ignite the gas.

For more information about space heaters, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.

No emergency outages after Santa Ana winds prompted Southern California fire danger warnings | Corona, CA

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a group of people standing next to a forest filled with fire

BY ALEXANDRA E. PETRI, GREGORY YEE

Large parts of Southern California were hit with Santa Ana winds Monday, prompting warnings of possible public safety power outages for tens of thousands of residents, but no shutoffs were required.

National Weather Service wind advisories for portions of the Inland Empire and Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties expired in the afternoon.

The strongest gusts in Los Angeles County, at 77 mph, were recorded by a station on Magic Mountain Truck Trail in the Angeles National Forest, said Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard. Gusts in Los Angeles County generally reached 50 mph.

Winds had calmed down by midafternoon and conditions are expected to be calmer Tuesday, Lund said.

Meteorologists are eyeing the possibility of another round of Santa Ana winds Thursday, though it’s expected to be weaker than Monday’s event, she said.

In the San Diego office’s forecast area, which also includes the Inland Empire and Orange County, “Santa Ana winds of moderate strength are prevailing this morning, strongest below the Cajon Pass and just below the Santa Ana Mountains,” according to a 9:03 a.m. forecast discussion from the office. “Peak wind gusts in these areas are mostly around 45 mph. The strongest wind gust recorded was 65 mph at Fremont Canyon…. The winds have peaked and will gradually lessen through this afternoon.”

A couple of big rigs flipped on their sides due to the wind, Caltrans reported.

“This seems to be the biggest [Santa Ana event] so far this year,” said Casey Oswant, a meteorologist with the San Diego office.

Conditions for Tuesday in the San Diego office’s forecast area are expected to be sunny with highs in the 70s and light winds, said meteorologist Joe Dandrea.

Monday’s forecast had also called for relatively low humidity, creating elevated to briefly critical fire conditions in parts of Southern California and prompting one of the region’s largest utilities to issue warnings of possible power outages.

The driest and windiest conditions Monday morning stretched from L.A. County’s mountains through the Santa Clarita Valley and the northern San Fernando Valley, and in eastern Ventura County through Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and down into the Oxnard plains, the National Weather Service tweeted.

Southern California Edison said on its website that wildfire risks because of weather could lead to public safety power shutoffs for nearly 40,000 of its customers across Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

Weather monitoring for power shut-offs ended in the afternoon and no shutoffs were required, said Paul Griffo, an Edison spokesperson.

The Santa Anas, which typically blow most aggressively during the fall months, are known to fuel some of California’s largest fires as strong, dry gusts blow against brush dried from the summer that act as tinder. The Woolsey fire, Los Angeles County’s most destructive blaze, fed off Santa Ana winds in the fall of 2018.

Though Monday’s winds and dry conditions prompted advisories, the event was not long enough for a red flag warning, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard.

For more information about Santa Ana wind power outages, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.

Staying Safe and Spooky this Halloween | Corona, CA

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a child in a pink costume holding a trick or treat bucket

We are a couple weeks out from the spookiest night of the year, and we are all preparing for the haunted festivities by decorating our homes with the scariest décor we can find and dressing up our tiny humans in whatever monster they want to be. We are sure to think about ensuring our children are safe, but are you giving your home the same considerations?

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 900 home fires are started by flammable holiday decorations every year, and two of every five of these instances started by candlelight. In order to prevent this unnecessary scare this Halloween and keep your little pumpkins safe, consider these fire safety tips:

This holiday is notorious for spiderwebs, crepe paper and loads of corn and scarecrows, stuffed with dried straw and cornhusks – and all of these things are tinder for a stray ember. Keep these very flammable decorations away from open flames and other heat sources like lightbulbs and heaters.

Jack o’ lanterns are required for a proper Halloween experience, but when it’s time to light them up and show them off, consider using glow sticks or battery-operated candles to illuminate your pumpkin creations. If you insist on open flames, be sure to keep them away from walkways or other places they can be accidentally knocked over.

Make sure that your Halloween hauntings do not block any fire escape routes. Home fires can come out of nowhere, so it is important to be able to get to safety in the quickest, most direct way possible. Happy Halloween!

For more information about Halloween fire safety, call CJ Suppression at 888-821-2334 or visit the website at www.cjsuppression.com.

CJ Suppression proudly serves Corona, CA and all surrounding areas.