Fire Alarm Enthusiast Seth KonAPEK

Hello, my name is Seth Konapek and I have a hobby that almost no one knows about. I am a Fire Alarm Enthusiast and Collector. You are probably thinking I'm the only one with this hobby, but you're wrong! There's an entire community of other fire alarm techs and collectors and there are groups that we chat, connect and share photos in.

I specialize in older alarms that I like to restore and add to my collection. I usually get old alarms on Ebay, but other times I will notice old alarms still up in buildings and I will ask if they are being used anymore. If they are not in service sometimes I'll get one just like how I was able to get an old fire alarm from Pioneer High SchooI this way and also getting old alarms from Huron!

I have been interested in alarms since I was in 1st grade. I was always scared of the alarms at my elementary school, because back then I had sensitive hearing and didn't like the loud sound. That's until about 2nd grade when I started to like them and got used to them. I was already into Outdoor Warning Sirens, but Fire Alarms were a completely new thing to me. I started watching videos of them and got really interested in them. When my parents found out I liked them, on Christmas of 2013 I got my first fire alarm: a FireLite BG-12 pull station. Unfortunately, I no longer have it, as after a couple of years it broke. That's until my house's old smoke alarms got replaced and I kept all of them. That's when my collecting first started.

In 2018, I got my first vintage fire alarm from a garage sale and I was really happy. That's when my interest in old alarms started. I started collecting and fixing old vintage alarms, and I even had people send me their old alarms to be refurbished and repaired. I also help some of my friends out with their old alarms on how to wire them and whatnot. I’m pretty popular in the community as I'm helpful to people and I help identify alarms and there's not a lot of people that are specifically into vintage alarms like I am . Just like the old ones at Huron behind those grilles and the hallways, they are made by National Time & Signal and the old “Chime” alarms that are still up are super rare. No one owns them and no one in the hobby really knows about them. That's until I stepped in when I first came here and I took pictures of them and identified the mechanical chimes. Next, I posted them to groups online where all the info I discovered was public. I asked the administration about letting me have them and thankfully I'll be getting them thanks to Mr Sumerton. I'll be the only one known in the whole community to own them. I'm very interested in working for a Fire Alarm tech at National Time and Signal Corp. I have a YouTube channel dedicated to fire alarms that has almost 200 subscribers

(My Fire Alarm channel): https://youtube.com/@Natsco411?si=zPrMRG8P0QsRaIUb

(My main channel): https://youtube.com/@elevatorsandsirensofmi?si=nz9MpAcYbrDvElm1