ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- About 300 government officials and industry executives packed the grand ballroom of a Manhattan hotel on Oct. 27, 2009 to witness GSN: Government Security News announce the names of the winners in 35 separate homeland security categories, including High Rise Escape Systems Inc., which was named a winner in the category Best Clean-Up, Decontamination, Disaster Preparedness or Recovery Product.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091104/FL04790)

Source: High Rise Escape Systems, Inc.
·  'The Responder' Portable Evacuation System ·  Click Here to Download Image

The 1st annual awards were handed out at gala dinner and awards ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel, where an overflow crowd celebrated the outstanding achievements of security vendors and government agencies at the federal, state and municipal levels.

"The competition was stiff, and our panel of independent judges had to make some very tough choices, but we think we've identified the 'best of the best' for 2009," said Jacob Goodwin, editor-in-chief of GSN: Government Security News, who oversaw the evaluation process.

"GSN was thrilled with the huge turnout we experienced at our awards dinner because it clearly demonstrated the depth and breadth of support for excellence in the homeland security community," said Ed Tyler, publisher of GSN: Government Security News.

At the dinner, the U.S. Airport & Seaport Police gave the Fred V. Morrone Nine-Eleven Award to Frances Townsend, the former chairman of the White House Homeland Security Council.

Ryan Alles, President of High Rise Escape Systems Inc., and his wife Cindi who accompanied him, were proud to bring the award home to Central Florida. "This is a great step forward for the entire Supplemental Evacuation Community who have been working so hard to address the greatest vulnerability that exists to multi-story buildings in the years following 9/11. But the real work of equipping numerous floors in tens of thousands of buildings internationally with these inexpensive technologies remains the focal point of our growing team of distributors," said Ryan

This is just the latest major accomplishment for High Rise Escape System Inc. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded HRES "Designation" as a "Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology" under the SAFETY Act in 2007, a General Services Administration (GSA) Contract with the U.S. Government in 2008 and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) used three pictures of their equipment in the 2009-2011 edition of the Life Safety Code Handbook as a textbook example of Supplemental Evacuation. "The real reward is being able to create an evacuation solution for a person with disabilities, a nursing home or hospital that has no plan except 'evacuate in place', Stadiums or our soldiers overseas that need a portable means of egress at a moments notice. Logistically we are now seeking to align ourselves with a Fortune 500 Company that also shares an international presence in fire or defense contracting." Ryan concluded.