PEARL Protected's monitored rescue ladder scales new heights

ATLANTA--David Duley, chief executive officer and co-founder of PEARL Protected, creators of the Permanent Escape and Rescue Ladder that can be monitored through existing alarm systems, said, "There is truly a gap in residential fire safety." "Every two hours someone dies in a residential fire in America. In most of those cases, the deaths are caused because people are trapped above the fire," he said. PEARL made its security industry debut at ISC West at the end of March with the intent of helping integrators with central stations close that gap for their customers. Founded in September 2004, "with just an idea on the napkin," Duley and co-founder Paula Collins "bought and wrote patents, engineered, built and delivered the product to market in October of 2005," Duley said. Since that time it has been sold through a variety of channels, including homebuilders, building supply dealers, home safety companies, re-modelers and maintenance specialists. But "it's a natural progression to sell PEARL through security companies" said Duley, whose ladder, "good up to three stories," can be monitored with a signal sent through an existing system when the door that houses the escape ladder opens. Permanently installed into the interior wall space below second- and third-story windows, the PEARL permanent escape ladder is "quick and easy to deploy and provides a means of escape that is where you need it, when you need it," said Duley. He went on to say that PEARL Protected is currently in talks with several home security companies, including Monitronics, the fourth-largest home security services provider in the United States. In fact, "more than half of the top 10 security companies have expressed an interest in the product," according to Duley. What has been exciting for Duley and Collins is the addition to their company of former State Fire Marshal of California, James McMullen, who joined PEARL Protected as the chief safety officer. "One of the most respected fire experts in America," according to Duley. As for security dealers, the baseline cost of the Permanent Escape and Rescue Ladder is between $240 and $260. "The key for their success is just to talk to customers about it because it's so new. There will be a dealer program, but in the short term they can buy directly through us."