Fireline Corporation. About Us.

Fireline Corporation and the fire protection industry will be forever indebted and grateful for the visionary leadership, dedication and unwavering commitment of John S. Waters, Fireline founder and its first president and to Stephen B. Waters, John's son and second president of the company. John and Stephen's contributions to Fireline's position in the industry and to the important relationships the company enjoys with its customers are just two of the hallmarks of their lasting impact on who Fireline is today and also tomorrow.

Founded in 1947, Fireline is one of the first companies in the nation to specialize in the fire equipment distribution and service business. Now one of the largest portables and special systems distributors in the country, Fireline has offices in Baltimore, MD and Leesburg, VA. To learn more about our fully integrated protection solutions, please call 410-247-1422 or e-mail us at .

Anna Gavin is president of Fireline Corporation and has been with the company for nearly a decade.

Anna is the third generation of the John Waters family to lead the company.

Prior to being appointed president, she has held various roles at the company, including positions in the firm's sales, accounting, service, marketing and human resources departments.

Norm is vice president and oversees the day-to-day operations of the company. Prior to being named vice president, Norm served as general manager of Fireline.

From 1984-1989, Mr. Mason worked for Maryland Fire Equipment before joining Fireline to head up the fire alarm sales department. Under Mr. Mason’s leadership, the department has won several awards from leading manufacturers.

Phil. Bowers has been with Fireline since 1966 and has held many different positions over the years.

After starting as a service technician in our Portables Department, he was later promoted to sales, then Sales Manager before taking over as our Portables Service Department Manager. Mr. Bowers’ department is consistently one of the best performing divisions of the company.

Frank Chenoweth joined Fireline in 1987 as a system field technician and later became our System Service Manager in 1992.

His department currently employs over 40 individuals dedicated to service of existing systems and many are factory trained by Notifier, Kidde-Fenwal, Viking, and Siemens.

He also has NICET Level IV Fire Alarm Systems and NICET Level II Testing of Water Based Systems.

Dave Riggs joined Fireline In in July, 1999 and he is the manager of Fireline's Suppression Systems Installation Department.

He comes with an impressive array of credentials--among the very best in the industry. 33 year's of experience in many areas of the fire protection industry, Dave has among his most impressive:

- NICET Level IV Special Hazards Fire Suppression System Layout
- NICET Level IV Fire Alarm Systems
- Holder of Numerous Patents on the Design of Fire Fighting Equipment

Ted has been in the fire protection industry for more than 25 years. He joined Fireline in 1997 and was named manager of the. sprinkler system installation department in 2000.

His NICET certifications include:

- NICET Level III Automatic Sprinkler System Layout
- NICET Level III Inspection and Testing of Water-Based Systems
- NICET Level II Special Hazards Suppression Systems
- NICET Level I Fire Alarm Systems

Tom Smallwood joined Fireline in 1970 as a portable fire extinguisher technician. He has served in numerous positions throughout his 30 years with Fireline Corporation and is the manager of the Portables and Pre-Engineered Systems Department in our Leesburg, Virginia Office.

Mr. Smallwood is certified in Ansul, Pyro Chem, Kidde, and Amerex pre-engineered dry and wet chemical fire suppression systems.

The Fireline Corporation is a Maryland corporation founded in 1947 by John S. Waters. As a pioneer in the fledgling fire equipment distribution business, John Waters soon saw the benefits of offering exemplary service and high quality products at a fair price. Fireline has lived by this standard for more than 60 years and the tradition continues today.

Fireline grew into one of the nation's premier fire equipment distributors during the 1950's and quickly took on new and innovative products as they became available. In the 1960's, Fireline was one of the first companies to promote the use of multi-purpose dry chemical extinguishers and kitchen hood and duct fire suppression systems. In the late 1960's, Fireline became a Pyrotronics fire alarm distributor and a Fenwal Halon 1301 distributor. These manufacturers, and many more systems oriented product lines are still sold by Fireline.

In the 1960's a group of fire equipment distributors from around the country met in Chicago at the National Safety Congress and formed the industry's first trade association: the National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors (NAFED). Fireline is one of its charter members. . John Waters was instrumental in getting the organization off to a strong start. In 1965, he was elected is the third president.

Fireline continued to grow throughout the 1970's and became one of the largest portables and special systems distributors in the country. In 1982, Stephen Waters succeeded his father as president of Fireline. He began his career with Fireline in 1974.

Continuing the company support of NAFED, Stephen served as director of region 1 and later as president from 1985-1987. Fireline is also a member of the Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA), the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Stephen Waters currently sits on two technical committees, NFPA 12A, Halon Fire Extinguishing Systems, and NFPA 2001, Alternative Protection Options for Halon.

In December, 2009 Stephen Waters passed away following a long illness.

Anna Waters Gavin, Stephen's daughter, is now president. She is committed to building on the legacy of her father and grandfather by maintaining the company's standing as the industry leader.