VSC Fire & Security expands to new state with acquisition

ASHLAND, Va.—VSC Fire & Security announced in November that it had acquired Fire Protection Specialists of Mobile, Ala.

Mike Martin, COO of VSC, said the move expands 50-year-old VSC into a sixth state and into a new vertical—casinos.

“We believe it will be a nice addition to our footprint,” Martin told Security Systems News.

VSC, based here, was formerly called VSC Corp., but merged with its subsidiaries two years ago and rebranded the entire company.

It now serves fire protection and security customers from offices in Washington and the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and now Alabama. Its new district office in Mobile will be its 14th office, Martin said. He said VSC plans to retain the approximately 25 employees at Fire Protection Specialists, bringing the total number of employees at VSC to about 850.

Fire Protection Specialists, according to VSC, is “a highly-regarded sprinkler contractor in the Southeast,” that has installed sprinkler systems “for many of the casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast including the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi.”

The addition of the company expands VSC's ability to serve customers in the Gulf Coast, Martin said.

He said that Fire Protection Specialists did not have the “capacity to perform fire alarm work,” but now their customers will have VSC's more comprehensive resources for their fire alarm and life safety needs.

He said VSC started out as a sprinkler company but expanded into low voltage work back in the 1990s. Sprinklers still remain a large percentage of VSC's business, but low voltage revenues are growing, Martin said. The company now bills itself as providing “integrated fire protection, life safety and security solutions and inspections of fire suppression, fire detection, fire sprinklers, alarms and security systems.”