Tag: security

Celebrating 20 Years of Growth in Life Safety with APi Group

A Milestone Anniversary

September 30, 2025, marks 20 years since Davis-Ulmer Sprinkler Co. joined APi Group Inc., a nationwide network of fire protection and specialty construction companies. At the time, Davis-Ulmer operated four branches in Western New York and had already earned a reputation for industry leadership, having expanded in 1996 to include top-tier fire suppression and alarm brands and its own Special Hazard Alarm and Detection division.

A Legacy of Expertise

That milestone is built on over a century of expertise. Founded in Buffalo in 1923 by Herman Ulmer and Joseph Davis, Davis-Ulmer Sprinkler Co. grew from a local sprinkler provider into a trusted leader in life safety. Under the leadership of the Ulmer family, the company steadily broadened its capabilities, diversifying into fire protection, suppression, and alarm solutions. (View a list of all current services.)

A Mission That Endures

Guided by its mission—to be the leading single-source fire protection company in the Northeast by providing quality products and services at fair and equitable rates—Davis-Ulmer has maintained a reputation for excellence and integrity for more than 100 years.

A Transformative Partnership

Building on its strong foundation and reputation for excellence, Davis-Ulmer’s partnership with APi marked the start of a transformative era.

Growth Through Collaboration

Joining APi opened new doors—connecting Davis-Ulmer to a powerful network of like-minded companies, resources, and expertise. Over the past two decades, this collaboration has transformed Davis-Ulmer into the DU Family of Companies with more than 18 valued local brands and 33 branch locations across the East Coast and Midwest, offering comprehensive fire protection, alarm, suppression, and security solutions to customers of all sizes. The DU Family of Companies shares decades of expertise, a commitment to safety, and a shared purpose: protecting what people value most.

Leadership-Driven Culture

A cornerstone of this growth is APi Group’s leadership-driven culture. Guided by its central premise—success happens only when our branches and field leaders are successful—APi invests deeply in leadership development at every level. This philosophy has created an entrepreneurial environment where innovation thrives, teams collaborate across brands, and customer service reaches new heights.

Voices of Leadership

Former Davis-Ulmer President Steve Ulmer, now Senior Vice President of Safety Service at APi Group Inc., reflects:

“One of the greatest impacts APi has had on Davis-Ulmer is in leadership. The knowledge and training around leading teams and leading yourself has been invaluable. APi’s commitment to building great leaders has paralleled our success as a company.”

As we celebrate this 20-year milestone, we’re proud of the journey that brought us here: from a four-branch sprinkler company in Western New York to a trusted life safety leader with a national presence. (View all our current locations.)

Ulmer adds:

“I couldn’t be more proud of how Davis-Ulmer has evolved, and it’s all thanks to our team members. We started with four branches in New York and have grown into a leading fire protection service provider across the East Coast and Midwest. And yet, the camaraderie and spirit still feel like a family-owned business. My father and grandfather could never have imagined what this would become—and we’re not done yet. The best is still to come.”

Looking Ahead

Here’s to the next chapter of protecting lives and property, together.

Access Control, Monitoring Systems, and Cameras for Schools

Being able to control who is coming in and out of your building is becoming more imperative today.  From security to access control, having the ability to monitor what is happening at the entrances of your facility is becoming more of a standard option.  There are many systems to help control the access to the facility and to see who is trying to gain entrance as well as monitoring what is happening inside of the facility.

Access control systems manage access to locations in a building through either a punch code, key card, fab, or several other different options.  These can help secure your facility from uninvited guests entering your facility without first getting permission.  This can be critical for the safety of the students inside the building.  They would either have to ask for permission to gain entry or have a school issued device that they could use to access the building.

Camera systems are another part of protection offered for schools.  They can help watch to ensure that staff and students are safe for whatever the reason.  They can identify who is at the door and catch incidents for documentation if the need were to ever arise.  They are also a big deterrent for theft and or anyone that wants to cause damage to the inside or outside of the school.

Monitoring systems are another protection system that combines many types of protection.  From cameras, alert monitoring, emergency response, mass notification/intercoms, to central station monitoring, there are many types of systems that can be used to help protect your students and staff.  Having a company that works with all these types of systems saves a lot of time and energy because if there is ever an issue, you only have one phone call to make and the problem will be fixed.  Also, if they are all tied together, then the systems will work hand and hand with each other to help alert staff and residents to anything that is going on.

At Davis-Ulmer Sprinkler Company, we are a full-service fire protection company that specializes not only in fire sprinkler and fire suppression systems, but also security systems, CCTV cameras, and monitoring systems.  We have NICET certified technicians that have the experience and knowledge it takes to set up your school with every monitoring systems it needs.  We also have a 24/7 emergency response team only a phone call away to help you if an issue ever arises with your system. Contact us today to find out how we can help your school get the protection it needs.