LLSSA Launches New Monthly Webinar Series Beginning December 15

The Louisiana Life Safety & Security Association (LLSSA) is pleased to announce the launch of a brand-new Monthly Webinar Series, with the first session kicking off on December 15. This recurring educational program is designed to keep Louisiana’s life safety and property protection professionals informed, engaged, and equipped with the knowledge they need in a rapidly evolving industry.

Each month, LLSSA will host a live one-hour webinar featuring important updates on issues directly affecting our membership — from regulatory changes and licensing requirements to state and national developments impacting alarm installers, fire technicians, and integrators across Louisiana. These sessions ensure that our members stay connected with what’s happening both inside LLSSA and throughout the industry.

Every webinar will also be sponsored by one of our valued Associate Members, who help make this program possible. In appreciation of the time and professionalism our members invest in continuing education, LLSSA will offer one (1) hour of CEU credit to participants who attend the full session. CEUs are available exclusively to LLSSA members.  Unless otherwise noted, attendance is free, but registration is required to access each month’s live presentation.

This new monthly offering is part of LLSSA’s ongoing commitment to support our members with high-quality training opportunities and to help them maintain the CEUs necessary for license renewal. Whether you’re an alarm installer, fire technician, security integrator, monitoring professional, or company owner, these webinars provide a convenient and valuable way to stay informed and advance your professional development.

Registration links and monthly topics will be posted on the LLSSA website and distributed through email announcements. We look forward to having you join us as we begin this exciting new member benefit — another example of LLSSA’s dedication to strengthening Louisiana’s life safety and property protection industry.

A Critical Spectrum Threat: What Louisiana’s Life Safety & Property Protection Industry Needs to Know About the NextNav Proposal

Last week, LLSSA leadership was alerted to a rapidly developing national issue that could directly affect alarm companies, integrators, monitoring centers, manufacturers, and the customers we protect across Louisiana. Leigh McGuire from The Monitoring Association (TMA) contacted us regarding a major FCC proposal involving the Lower 900 MHz band, a spectrum widely used by alarm systems, life-safety devices, and Z-Wave technology. 

The FCC is considering a rule change that would remove long-standing non-interference protections for this spectrum. In their place, the Commission is exploring whether to grant NextNav permission to use nearly 60% of the Lower 900 MHz band to support 5G-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services. NextNav argues that this expanded access is necessary for improved indoor location accuracy — particularly in dense, multi-level structures where public safety responders need better vertical positioning tools.

However, the engineering reality tells a different story.

According to the industry alert and the technical analysis summarized in the attachment General_NextNav Call to Action — along with a full research study conducted by the Security Industry Association (SIA) — the proposed rule change could overlap, interfere with, and ultimately overwhelm the low-power channels used by tens of millions of devices nationwide. This includes wireless burglary and fire alarm sensors, smoke and CO detectors, wireless keypads, panic buttons, PERS devices, access control components, and the entire ecosystem of Z-Wave automation peripherals. These systems rely on clean, interference-free communication to function correctly.

If high-power 5G activity is permitted inside this band, these life-safety and security devices may fail, lock up, or be forced off the spectrum entirely. The consequences for our industry — and more importantly, for the public — would be staggering. Replacing millions of impacted devices would cost billions, overwhelm technicians, strain already fragile supply chains, and create a nationwide service disruption larger than any previous technology “sunset.” As noted in the alert, this is not another 3G sunset… yet — but all the warning signs are here.

For Louisiana companies, the stakes are especially high. With our state’s combination of dense urban centers, petrochemical facilities, rural markets, and aging buildings, wireless alarm communication remains essential to fire and life-safety protection. Equipment instability or mass device failures would put customers, first responders, and businesses at unacceptable risk.

Now is the time for Louisiana’s alarm and life-safety professionals to act.
The FCC is actively seeking public comment from those who will be directly affected. Local companies, monitoring centers, integrators, and service technicians have real-world insight into how interference would impact essential systems — and the FCC needs to hear those voices. Even a short statement describing how many systems you service, how critical these wireless channels are, or what a forced nationwide replacement would mean for your customers can make a measurable difference.

You can submit comments directly to the FCC at: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/standard?proceeding[name]=24-240

In addition, LLSSA encourages members to stay engaged with TMA, SIA, NESA, and AICC as this develops. These groups are coordinating engineering studies, legal advocacy, and industry-wide responses to ensure our concerns are heard clearly and forcefully in Washington. If you want deeper technical detail or wish to support the ongoing national response effort, the attached industry alert includes contact information for joining AICC discussions and contributing to the advocacy fund.

The threat is real, but so is our opportunity to stop it — before it becomes a nationwide crisis. Louisiana’s life safety and property protection industry has a strong, unified voice. Now is the time to use it.

The Louisiana Life Safety & Security Association proudly celebrates the success of the 2025 LLSSA Convention, an outstanding gathering of life safety and security professionals featuring education, networking, industry innovation, and meaningful community engagement.

The event began with the annual LLSSA Golf Tournament, where the team of Avery Roberts, Greg Page, Jacob Thomas, and Adam Emmet took top honors. Chris Bartholomew claimed the Putting Contest title, Mike McIver won Longest Drive, and Jenny Williams earned Closest to the Hole. All proceeds from the tournament support LLSSA’s Youth Scholarship Program, helping provide educational opportunities for the children of Louisiana’s fire, police, and first responder families.

Inside the convention hall, attendees explored the latest products and services from 70 vendors and participated in over 23 hours of CEUs, ensuring licensed professionals remain at the forefront of industry standards and updates. The ever-popular Parade of Prizes, hosted by Cat Fleuret, awarded more than $5,000 in prizes to excited attendees. Dustin Loupe was recognized as the Event App Gamification Winner after leading the convention in app-based engagement.

A highlight of the convention was the ceremonial Tradeshow Opening Parade, featuring the Louisiana State Fire Marshal Color Guard presenting the colors, accompanied by the powerful music of the Baton Rouge Pipes and Drums. LLSSA’s mascot Gabe the Gator made his annual appearance—this time charming the crowd with two baby gators joining him.

During the State Meeting and Tradeshow, Kristin Hebert served as Master of Ceremonies, ensuring each moment flowed seamlessly. It was during the State Meeting that LLSSA proudly presented Lifetime Memberships to two long-serving leaders: Bill Hattier, honored for his many years as Treasurer and Legislative Committee Chairperson, and Ed Hilderbrand, recognized for his long-standing service as Golf Tournament and Scholarship Chairperson. Their dedication and commitment have played a vital role in shaping the association’s success and supporting its mission.

Another notable program was WISE — Women in Security Empowerment, offering an empowering space dedicated to the women of the life safety and security industry. The session featured guest speaker Melanie Talia of the New Orleans Police Department and the New Orleans Justice Foundation. Attendees also contributed to a meaningful cause, collecting teddy bears for children who must interact with law enforcement during difficult circumstances.

The LLSSA extends its sincere appreciation to every attendee, vendor, sponsor, volunteer, and partner who made the 2025 Convention exceptional. Planning is already underway for next year’s event, and we look forward to welcoming the industry back together for another impactful gathering.