Industry Recognition
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins Honeywell Award
March, 2024 – The Honeywell Fire Enterprise Partner Conference was held in San Diego March 3rd to the 5th. Scott Volkening – CEO/President proudly accepted Fox Valley Fire & Safety’s Honeywell 2024 Multi-Million Dollar Club award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety’s 2024 Honeywell Multi-Million Dollar Club Award
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Earns ANSUL Triple Diamond Alliance Program Award
March 6, 2024 – Travis Champeau, ANSUL Territory Manager presented Jim Moran, Fox Valley Fire & Safety VP of Sales with the Triple Diamond Alliance Award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety is one of only two Triple Diamond Award Distributors in the Midwest Region. The Triple Diamond is the highest Distributor Award given from ANSUL Fire Prevention Products and is a testament to the hard work put forth by Fox Valley Fire & Safety over the past year. This is Fox Valley Fire’s 28th consecutive Triple Diamond Award.
Jim Moran receiving the Triple Diamond Alliance Award from Travis Champeau, ANSUL Territory Manager
Illinois Fire Inspectors Association President’s Award
January 4, 2024 – Ken Volkening was honored with the President’s Award from the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association. Ken’s retirement party was attended by numerous industry leaders including the top brass from the IFIA.
David Wheeler – IFIA President thanked Fox Valley Fire for inviting AHJ’s and inspectors to be a part of Ken’s spectacular day. Dave asked everyone to “raise a glass” and congratulate Ken on his 57 years. Dave introduced Bob Morris – Executive Director of the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association and Scott McBride the IFIA Vice President and Roselle Fire Marshal.
Dave presented the President’s Award to Ken and said: “On behalf of the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association I would like to present to you the President’s Award in appreciation of outstanding commitment, dedication, or exceptional achievement in advancement or improving fire prevention principals, education, or having committed excellence in the field of fire prevention or public education. Dated today, January 4th. 2024. Thank you for your dedication to the fire service, to all of us and making sure that everybody that works or lives in any building is safe. We thank you for that.”
Robert Morris – IFIA Executive Director, Ken Volkening, David Wheeler – IFIA President, Scott Volkening, and Scott McBride – IFIA Vice President
Ken Volkening, President of Fox Valley Fire & Safety Retires After 57 Year Run
January, 2024 – Published in Food Industry News Magazine.
Imagine getting a part time job at 15 years old and never working anywhere else? That’s exactly what Ken experienced in his distinguished career.
Ken started and kept working at Fox Valley Fire & Safety through high school, while attending Elgin Community College where he earned an associate degree and was “Male Student of the Year” in 1971, and while pursuing his bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1973.
Ken says it best in his own words: “When I started at Fox Valley Fire & Safety as a teenager in 1967 by washing trucks and sweeping floors, I could not have possibly foreseen that I would never have another employer. That coupled with becoming the President for the last 27 years of a company with now more than 350 employees was not even imaginable – especially when there were less than 10 employees when I first started. I have been truly blessed to be part of this. I grew up with the company and I am so very proud of the Fox Valley Fire & Safety family and what this company has grown to become.
This is the right time for the next generation of leadership to move the company forward. Fox Valley Fire & Safety has so many talented and dedicated employees that it will continue to grow and succeed.
I will be continuing on as an officer of the Board of Directors and also serve as a Fox Valley Fire & Safety Ambassador by maintaining some of the business relationships I have established over these many decades as I transition those relationships to the next generation of the Executive Team. I have a “BIG” bucket list so I don’t think I will have any problem keeping busy.”
Food Industry News is Chicagoland’s Local B2B Trade Publication. The January 2024 issue of Food Industry News, tracking trends and news of interest to food service and restaurant professionals, as well as grocers, suppliers and vendors.
Ken Volkening Retires After 57 years
Ken Volkening 1967
Ken Volkening 2023
Fox Valley Fire & Safety and NOTIFIER Donate Fire Alarm Panel to IFIA
December, 2023 – Published in the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association Friday Announcement 12/08/2023:
A Big Thank You to Fox Valley Fire and Safety, and Notifier
Together they donated a state of the art fire alarm panel and case. This will be used for various fire inspector classes. Pictured with the panel are David Wheeler, IFIA, and Brian Kowalkowski, Fox Valley Fire & Safety.
David Wheeler, IFIA, and Brian Kowalkowski, Fox Valley Fire & Safety
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins ANSUL Triple Diamond Alliance Program Award
March 8, 2023 – Scott L. Miller, ANSUL Territory Manager presented Jim Moran Jr., Fox Valley Fire & Safety VP of Sales and Jay Hansen, Restaurant System Project Manager, with the Triple Diamond Alliance Award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety is one of only two Triple Diamond Award Distributors in the Midwest Region. The Triple Diamond is the highest Distributor Award given from ANSUL Fire Prevention Products and is a testament to the hard work put forth by Fox Valley Fire & Safety over the past year. This is Fox Valley Fire’s 27th consecutive Triple Diamond Award.
Scott L. Miller, ANSUL Territory Manager, presenting Jim Moran Jr. and Jay Hansen with the Triple Diamond Alliance Award
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2022 NOTIFIER Awards
November, 2022 – The annual Notifier Fire Equipment Distributors Conference was back in action beginning on November 12th and 13th in sunny Orlando. This is the first time since 2019 that the in-person conference was held. Scott Volkening – Executive Vice President Sales and Ken Volkening – President proudly accepted our 2022 Notifier Million Dollar Platinum Premier Distributor Award. Additionally, we were awarded the Diamond Distributor Award in recognition for going above and beyond for our clients.
Scott and Ken Volkening accepting Fox Valley Fire & Safety’s Notifier Awards
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2021 NOTIFIER Awards
April 1, 2022 – Nick Gomez, our Regional Sales Manager from NOTIFER came to our Elgin office to present our annual recognition and give a training class on NOTIFIER’s new technology.
We proudly accepted our third straight Multi-Million Dollar Premier Distributor Award. Additionally, we were awarded the Diamond Distributor Award of Excellence in recognition of going above and beyond for our clients.
A huge thank you to all of the fire alarm installers, service techs, schedulers, assistants, CAD services, purchasing, and inventory that put in the hard work each day to make these goals achievable.
Nick Gomez, Ken Volkening & Scott Volkening
NOTIFIER Training Attendees
Colley Elevator Hydraulic Elevator Modernization – Oak Park, IL
May 29, 2021 – Colley Elevator partnered with Fox Valley Fire & Safety for an elevator modernization project in an Oak Park, IL building.
“Fire alarm elevator work – We had a great partner on this project, Fox Valley Fire who did some good work and worked with us to connect the dots and get it turned over to the building quickly.”
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Oak Park Elevator Modernization
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2020 NOTIFIER Award
October 19, 2020 – NOTIFIER’s 34th Annual Leadership Conference was held this year as a virtual event. As a Premier Distributor we proudly accepted our second Multi-Million Dollar recognition award. This was after 14 consecutive Million Dollar recognition awards.
Ken & Scott Volkening
2020 Notifier Multi-Million Dollar Award
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2019 NOTIFIER Awards
September, 2019 – Honored by our Premier partnership with Notifier by Honeywell. We were recently presented with our annual Diamond Distributor recognition. And, after 14 consecutive Million Dollar recognition awards we finally achieved our first Multi-Million Dollar award.
Fox Valley Fire Sales Team with Christa Poss, Dick Bauer and Rob Martin of Notifier by Honeywell
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Earns Amerex Distributor Recognition
July 12, 2019 – Representatives from Amerex recognized Fox Valley Fire & Safety with both outstanding performance and growth achievements for the 2018 calendar year. We are a proud Amerex partner and distributor of hand portable, wheeled fire extinguishers, pre-engineered automatic restaurant systems, vehicle fire suppression systems, gas detection and industrial systems.
Pictured l to r – Larry Paris –Sales, Jim Moran Jr. – Sales , Jim Moran –Vice President of Sales, Craig Moreth – Amerex VP Sales, Paula Baumgarten – Accounts Coordinator
Fox Valley Fire & Safety’s Larry Paris – Presenter at IAAP Annual Conference
March, 2019 – Springfield, IL – The Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers (IAAP) held its 2019 Convention and Aggregate Miner Safety Conference March 5 to 7 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Ill.
The three-day agenda was packed with seminars on leadership, basic aggregate principles and, above all, safety issues. Among the many presenters were Nick Sterling and Barry McCauley of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, who spoke on the handling of explosives; Larry Paris of Fox Valley Fire and Safety, who covered fire suppression, safety and compliance; and Pat Kirk, supervisor of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Peru field office, who addressed the MNHA’s priority concerns in Illinois. Read more…
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Receives Platinum Level Partner Recognition from Emergency24
February 22, 2019 – Emergency24’s President/CEO – Dante Monteverde and VP Operations – Steve Mayer presented recognition to Fox Valley Fire & Safety as a 2019 Platinum Level Partner.
Emergency24 is a leader in the alarm monitoring and security industries. Fox Valley Fire & Safety utilizes EM24 as a UL listed central station that handles the signals that come from our monitored customers’ locations. Read more about 24 hour alarm monitoring…
Fox Valley Fire receives EM24 Platinum Recognition – Standing: Steve Mayer – EM24 VP Operations, Dante Monteverde – EM24 President/CEO,
Fox Valley Fire Team: Ken Volkening – President, Brian Kowalkowski, Tom Matousek – Director of Monitoring Services, Seated: Scott Volkening, Mike Keen, Rich Bryant, Kristine Vlasnik
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2018 NOTIFIER Award
September, 2018 – Distributors from all over the globe converged in Marco Island, Florida for NOTIFIER’s 32nd Annual Leadership Conference. Representing Fox Valley Fire & Safety were Scott Volkening, and Ken Volkening – President. We proudly accepted our 14th consecutive Million Dollar recognition award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins ANSUL Triple Diamond Alliance Program Award
May 22, 2018 – Jay Hansen, ANSUL Territory Manager presented Jim Moran, Fox Valley Fire & Safety VP of Sales, and Jim Moran Jr., Sales, with the Triple Diamond Distributor Award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety is one of only two Triple Diamond Award Distributors in the Midwest Region. The Triple Diamond is the highest Distributor Award given from ANSUL Fire Prevention Products and is a testament to the hard work put forth by Fox Valley Fire & Safety over the past year. This is Fox Valley Fire’s 22nd consecutive Triple Diamond Award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2017 NOTIFIER Award
October 14, 2017 – Distributors from all over the globe converged in Arizona for NOTIFIER’s Annual Leadership Conference held on October 12-14. Representing Fox Valley Fire were Dave Matousek, Scott Volkening, and Ken Volkening- President. We proudly accepted our 13th consecutive Million Dollar recognition award.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Awarded NOTIFIER Premier Distributor 2016
April 1, 2016 marks the beginning of Fox Valley Fire & Safety’s relationship with NOTIFIER as a Premier Distributor. While we have been a leading distributor in the Chicagoland market for decades, the Premier status clearly sets us apart. Beginning this year NOTIFIER awards the Premier status to those distributors who show higher levels of capability and performance. The Premier Distributor title reflects our leadership in our industry. We are recognized as being expertly trained in the installation and maintenance of NOTIFIER equipment and solutions.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2015 NOTIFIER Award
Distributors from all over the globe converged on the great city of San Antonio, Texas for NOTIFIER’s Annual Leadership Conference held on October 11-14. Representing Fox Valley Fire were Scott Volkening, Ken Volkening- President, and Dave Matousek. We proudly accepted our 11th consecutive Million Dollar recognition award. “Bringing home the award to share with all of our employees that have made this possible is what it’s all about” stated Ken Volkening.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins ANSUL Triple Diamond Alliance Program Award
Jay Hansen, ANSUL Territory Manager presented Jim Moran, Fox Valley Fire & Safety VP of Sales, with the Triple Diamond Distributor Award September 14, 2015.
Fox Valley Fire & Safety is one of only two Triple Diamond Award Distributors in the Midwest Region. The Triple Diamond is the highest Distributor Award given from ANSUL TYCO Fire Prevention Products..
Installers, Service Technicians, CAD Services and Sales Representatives all took part in the September 14th ANSUL training on ANSUL’s R102 Restaurant Fire Suppression Systems. Keeping all informed on new elements for the system allows Fox Valley Fire & Safety to sell, design, install and service the very best to their customers.
Elgin company designs wireless alert for cops
John McNutt and John Shales are the creators of the BluePoint Alert System, designed to speed emergency notification to police and alert others in the building.
The system looks and acts similar to a fire alarm system. Blue pullboxes are installed throughout the building. When a box is activated, an alert is immediately sent to a call center, who then notifies the local police. In addition, an automated message is broadcast through the building’s public address system, and a text/e-mail alert is sent to a list of building officials.
In areas where it may be difficult to hear a PA — like a school cafeteria or gym — a box with a blue strobe light is activated to give a visual cue that the alert has been activated, according to McNutt and Shales. In addition, a remote activator is available and can be worn around the neck of key personnel, who can activate the system within a 2 mile radius of the building. To top it off, the entire system is wireless, so it doesn’t require installing an infrastructure to support it.
McNutt explains the genesis of BluePoint came shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy, when he was talking with Central Community School District 301 Superintendent Todd Stirn. “(Stirn) said all buildings have fire alarms, we should do something for police as well,” McNutt added. “I came right back and talked with John (Shales).” After some further discussions with Ken Volkening of Fox Valley Fire & Safety, they developed the concept that became BluePoint, he said.
Since launching BluePoint in late 2013, they have installed about 30 systems in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico and Wisconsin, and have about 12 projects pending, according to McNutt. He added that word-of-mouth and media attention has increased nationally as they add more buildings to their list. While schools are the main focus for the product, the system can also be used in other buildings, such as movie theaters, libraries or office buildings, where an additional level of security may be helpful.
“The idea came as a result of school violence, but people are seeing it translated into many different types of buildings,” McNutt said.
The bottom line, they stress, is that BluePoint is a way to prevent another school tragedy from happening.
“The last death in a school from a fire was over 56 years ago,” McNutt said. “That’s a system that works, so why not use that same thought process for a solution to this?”
By Richard R. Klicki, Director of Content Development, Thursday, December 04, 2014 7:00 AM
Copyright 2014 by the Daily Herald Business Ledger. Note: Edited from original article.
To see the full article click here: BluePoint Daily Herald 12-04-14 (PDF – 922KB)
To learn more about BluePoint click here: BluePoint Alert Systems (PDF – 3.76MB)
Fox Valley Fire & Safety Wins 2014 NOTIFIER Award
Ken Volkening, Scott Volkening and Dave Matousek represented Fox Valley Fire & Safety at the Annual NOTIFIER Leadership Conference held on October 12 – 15 in Florida. Dave and Scott accepted our 10th consecutive Million Dollar recognition award. We are in select company this year as only 16 distributors in the nation received this recognition.
Award Winning Year for Fox Valley Fire & Safety
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- NOTIFIER Domestic Distributor of the Year 2013
- NOTIFIER Million Dollar Award 2013
- ANSUL Triple Diamond Distributor 2013
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On October 15th, at the 27th annual NOTIFIER Fire Alarm Distributor Leadership Conference in Palm Springs (Desert) Fox Valley Fire & Safety was awarded the Domestic Distributor of the Year 2013.
NOTIFIER by Honeywell, a worldwide leading commercial fire alarm, life safety and mass notification system manufacturer, awarded Fox Valley Fire & Safety the highly coveted Domestic Distributor of the year award in recognition of excellence in all aspects of providing comprehensive fire protection solutions. We were selected out of 460 distributors in the United States.
“We are proud of our team and the remarkable difference our people make”, said Ken Volkening, President of Fox Valley Fire & Safety. “It’s a great honor to be recognized for our commitment and drive to provide exceptional customer service.” “I’m equally humbled and motivated by the effort of everyone in our organization”. ” We were also recognized with our 9th consecutive Million Dollar Distributor award for sales of NOTIFIER equipment in excess of One Million Dollars”.
Empress Casino Fire
The devastating fire that completely demolished the entire former Empress Casino Pavilion on March 20, 2009 is an important reminder of the importance of properly functioning life safety systems.
Prior to this fire, the Empress Casino was under going extensive remodeling in the pavilion. Fox Valley Fire & Safety was contracted by the Empress Casino to provide a new fire alarm system in the Pavilion. While new installation work was being done, it was brought to our attention that some horn circuits on the existing active fire alarm system in the pavilion had been accidentally disabled due to construction by other trades. In the event of a fire, these disabled circuits would not activate or provide proper notification. Fox Valley Fire & Safety Technicians were dispatched to troubleshoot the non-functioning horn circuits and get them back online with the existing fire alarm system. Through diligent troubleshooting to locate the problem areas, our technicians were able to successfully bring horn circuits for the first and second floor offices of the pavilion back online.
The following day a devastating fire broke out when many employees and contractors were working throughout the facility. The fire alarm system activated and provided proper notification allowing everyone to evacuate without injury. Although the pavilion was completely destroyed by the fire, tragedy was averted through a properly functioning fire alarm system allowing all to exit safely.
Community
Fox Valley Fire & Safety participated in the Elgin Community Summer Event – Adirondacks – Thrones of Summer 2011. This is a public outdoor art exhibition of creative and unique works of art using oversized Adirondack Chairs as a canvas. There were 55 unique works of art on display over the summer in our community. All of the Thrones were displayed at the Art & Soul festival on July 30th and auctioned off with the proceeds benefiting Elgin Neighborhood projects. Our committee had a fun time decorating our entry titled “The Hot Seat”, and happy it has a new home while benefiting our city.
