Company History

William Tomes, a former San Diego fire marshal and the company's current co-chairman founded TVA Fire & Life Safety, Inc. as Tomes and Associates in 1986. His vision was to create a company that helped businesses comply with building and fire codes in an economical way.

Landing clients such as Central Sprinkler Company, BF Goodrich, and the American Fire Sprinkler Association, Tomes and Associates quickly developed a reputation as "the experts" in codes and standards, as well as in dealing with fire officials. In the 1980's, the company's primary services were code development, code consulting, fire testing, and fire investigation.

Late in 1986, Home Club, a big box home retailer, contacted the company when the Los Angeles County fire marshal issued a warrant for the arrest of the CEO because of code violations. Tomes and Associates was able to resolve the issue with the fire marshal and keep the CEO out of jail. Very quickly the company developed a reputation as big box experts.

The current co-chairman and CEO, James Tomes, joined the firm in 1990 after assisting with the long-range and strategic planning for the company. He began working closely with one of TVA's original customers, Price Club, as an account executive. He continued to contribute to the future of TVA as its Chief Financial Officer until assuming the CEO position in 1999.

In 1991 Russ Leavitt and Bill Holden joined the team, and TVA began to offer fire protection engineering and design services. The first of nine regional offices was opened in Detroit in 1992, and a Mexico office was opened in 1993. With the new office in Detroit, TVA's customer base grew to include industrial and manufacturing clients. With the addition of Bruce Elmer in 1994, TVA began to penetrate the fire alarm market, first in Detroit, and soon across the country.

The first loss control client for TVA was Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Company, Ltd. Our unmatched customer focus and passion for service made us perfect for this industry. The late 1990's were a time of spectacular growth for TVA, with the opening of additional offices and the penetration of markets in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

TVA earned its reputation as research and testing experts with the addition of Bill Thomas in 2000. Since then, TVA has directed full-scale fire tests at all of the major US test laboratories for clients such as Home Depot, Anheuser Busch, BioLab, and the Reusable Plastic Container and Pallet Association.

In fall 2001, several TVA shareholders founded Fire Materials Group, LLC to provide materials procurement and construction management services. In April 2002, TVA spun off its Inspection and Testing division to Fire Materials Group, LLC, as it was a compatible business. With the spin off, TVA sent two senior managers to run Fire Materials Group, LLC (Russell Leavitt, chief operating officer and president; and Bill Holden, executive vice president). Today, the companies function as sister businesses, each serving common clients.

Today, TVA provides loss control, consulting, engineering, testing and research, fire protection, alarm, and security design to clients worldwide-many of which are Fortune 500 companies. We have more than 200 employees and ten regional offices, including an office in London. We continue to grow so that we can achieve our vision: to be the best firm in the industry.