Preservation Maryland Fire Suppression intern, Caroline Sewell, is assisting the Downtown Frederick Partnership with a survey of fire suppression systems within the district. The goal from this survey is to develop recommendations of how the district could better support the adaptive reuse of Maryland’s historic commercial districts using fire suppression.
“Fire suppression systems, like interior sprinklers, are vital tools in protecting our historic structures but property owners often face may roadblocks on the path toward installation,” said Program & Outreach Manager Christiana Limniatis, who is overseeing the project. “Using Frederick as our example, Caroline will be working to develop recommendations that will support the investment in fire suppression systems throughout the state.”
Caroline will survey Main Street properties to document and assess the status of fire suppression systems and current use within those spaces, develop a final report detailing the survey data, and potential recommendations to improve existing fire suppression systems as a means to support activation of underutilized spaces or expansion of operating capacities, and research and draft outreach and advocacy materials related to fire suppression systems in historic resources across Maryland.
Caroline is an Architecture and Historic Preservation graduate student at the University of Maryland College Park. She also has her Bachelors Science in Architecture with a minor in Construction Project Management from the same institution.
We’re excited to have Caroline working on this important project! We’ll update this blog with more resources as Caroline proceeds with her work.