American Alarms

American Alarms was founded in 1983 by Bill Jacobs — and the story of why it exists is worth knowing. Bill started in the fire alarm business in 1963 at age 17, working after school at Midwest Equipment Company in Des Moines. He served in Vietnam with the US Army, returned to his old employer, and eventually worked his way up to President and part owner. In 1983, Bill had a fundamental disagreement with his co-owners about the right way to treat customers — a disagreement he considered too important to compromise on. He walked away from a leadership position to start American Alarms in his basement, with nothing but his electronics training from DM Tech HS, his Army experience, and an unshakeable conviction that customer service was the only foundation worth building a company on.

American Alarms is a commercial-only provider — and intentionally so. The company designs and installs fire alarm systems, area of refuge emergency call systems, access control with license plate recognition, video surveillance, and commercial intrusion alarms for Des Moines businesses, property managers, and facilities directors who need a security partner with the technical depth to handle complex comm