Tim Smallwood and his family have a small cabin on a lake near Madison, Wisconsin. To protect the family, Tim has set up quite a bit of security. He told us that he has the "Protector Voice Dialer system, beefed up with a temperature sensor for the living room, water sensor at the lowest point of the basement, and a bevy of door/window motion detectors guarding all points of entry."

As with all security systems, you hope that you never have to use it, but here on this planet, that's just not guaranteed. While on a long weekend/vacation snowmobiling in January, Tim and his wife forgot about a candle they had left burning on their bedroom dresser. A box of Kleenex and a stack of magazines on the dresser caught fire, and according to Tim, the Loud Noise/Smoke Detector in the main room "heard the smoke alarm and set the Protector Voice Dialer off." The Voice Dialer called Tim's neighbor, who came over just in time to put the fire out with their fire extinguisher. "The unit was set to call my neighbor" Tim says, "A local relative and my home number in that order. It only got the message to my neighbor, but that was enough!"

Boy was it. The neighbor got there in time to prevent the fire from getting out of control and spreading throughout the cabin. But it also protected something far more valuable than just a cabin. Tim's dog Sam, and his cat Max were in the cabin too. It would have only taken a few more minutes and then all would have been lost.

But not this time. According to Tim "the damage was minimal-contained to the dresser and a few things on the dresser, and some minor smoke damage." The case and cord of the Protector Plus system were melted, and then doused with the foam from the fire extinguisher, but they gave their life to protect Tim and his family.

Some days, when fate isn't so kind, it's good to have a backup. As Tim said, "The system worked flawlessly when it had to. I can't tell you how much that kind of security and safety is worth to us."

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