Aurora City Council to vote on $1.1 million contract to upgrade fire alarm system

The Aurora City Council will vote on a nearly $1.1 million contract Tuesday to develop the system that alerts the Aurora Fire Department to calls.

Council members are considering Purvis Systems Inc., based in both New York and Rhode Island, for the Purvis Alert System. is expected to approve the contract.

Council members placed the item on the approval agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, meaning it will likely be approved.

IT and the Aurora Fire Department worked together and both selected the Purvis system, said Thomas Collier, project manager for the city’s Department of Information Technology.

Matt Anslow, Aurora Fire Department deputy chief of support services, said the city’s current alert system is outdated, “inconsistent” and has “frequent outages.”

“Therefore, we want to move to a system that is up-to-date and more friendly to our members,” he said.

Purvis is a 50-year-old company that works with more than 200 fire departments nationwide, including New York City and neighboring Naperville. He also does other work with DuPage County departments.

The company also does a lot of work with the US Department of Defense. The company’s first system was developed in 1973 for the US Navy destroyer USS Hugh Purvis.

“This seems like a great system for us,” Anslow said. “After doing our research, we decided on this.”

When a call comes in and is entered into the city’s computer-aided dispatch system, the Purvis system will automatically forward it to all first responders, officials said. Officials said it was delivered immediately.

Collier said the company can tailor its system to the Aurora Fire Department and do as much or as little as the department needs.

slord@tribpub.com