(Youngstown, Ohio) CertaSite announced today that it has acquired ABC Fire Extinguisher Co., a family-owned business with a strong legacy of service in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
CertaSite is a new commercial fire protection and life safety company that provides the highest levels of customer service, responsiveness, building safety and code compliance to customers across the country. The company goes beyond compliance, focusing on partnerships and professionalism while providing customers a simplified and dependable solution to managing all of the fire protection and life safety systems in commercial buildings.
CertaSite is led by CEO Jeff Wyatt, who has more than 30 years of experience in the fire protection and life safety industry. He most recently served as president of Koorsen Fire & Security, one of the largest privately owned life safety companies in the industry. He started his career in the profession as an installation technician, and is a veteran of the United States Navy. Wyatt was recruited to lead CertaSite by The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm that is CertaSite’s primary investor.
ABC Fire Extinguisher was founded in 1977. Its strong reputation will allow it to grow under CertaSite within its current customer base, and expand into new markets. The company’s employees retained their jobs in the acquisition, which was finalized earlier this month.
“CertaSite and Riverside are the perfect partners to build on the foundation laid by our employees and customers,” said ABC owner Frank Lordi. “Transitioning our business to CertaSite blends our unique industry knowledge with a technology-based platform that offers new product lines, is professional and rooted in best practices, and provides significant value for customers.”
ABC Fire Extinguisher will be now be a CertaSite company but will continue with the legacy brand in the local market that everyone has come to know as part of the acquisition.
“We are grateful to Frank Lordi and the ABC family for their continued partnership throughout this process,” said Jeff Wyatt, CEO of CertaSite. “We are committed to preserve the legacy that these dedicated professionals built and recognize and respect their strong local presence. Our team will provide our new employees with development and career advancement, and expanded services and support to customers. We are thrilled to be expanding our unique brand of customer service in this market.”
This is CertaSite’s second acquisition of an Ohio-based commercial fire protection and life safety company. County Fire Protection joined the CertaSite family in 2018, and serves customers in Kent, Columbus, Toledo and Rimersburg, Penn. Rich Kendle, who manages the Kent office, will oversee the Youngstown operations.
In addition to its Ohio expansion, CertaSite already has added seven fire protection and life safety companies, and is actively engaged in bringing new businesses under the CertaSite umbrella. To date, the CertaSite family includes: Approved Protection Systems (Michigan); ABC Fire Extinguisher Co. (Ohio); Company One Suppression (Illinois and Iowa); County Fire Protection, Ohio; Erlich Protection Systems (Michigan); Field’s Fire Protection (Michigan); and Spears Fire & Safety (Michigan). Headquartered in Indianapolis, CertaSite primarily serves customers in the Midwest, with plans to strategically grow in new markets. Markets of focus for 2020 include Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
About CertaSite
CertaSite is a commercial fire protection and life safety company founded in 2018. We take a new approach to fire and life safety, going beyond compliance to give our clients an unmatched level of customer service and tech-based control over their fire and life safety systems. Our team of experts serves approximately 15,500 customers in more than 13 markets. CertaSite is headquartered in Indianapolis. Visit www.certasitepro.com for more information.
