A federal court decided last week that a fire protection district in Illinois had no legal authority to establish its own non-competitive monitoring station and take over more than 300 accounts from private companies, including ADT and Alarm Detection Systems (ADS). The court’s decision has permanently banned the District from entering the fire monitoring business. However, according to a report in the Northwest Herald, the municipalities have taken this ruling as confirmation that they, as bound by different legislation than the fire district, do have the authority to dictate the “who” and “how” of fire alarm monitoring. IESA members worry that notion could spread to other states like poorly monitored wildfire.