COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland will upgrade fire/life-safety systems at its academic buildings, including new fire alarms and sprinklers capable of providing firefighters with more specific information about a fire’s location.

Workers are modernizing fire prevention systems in 11 facilities, focusing primarily on buildings where lectures and classes are held. The project is expected to continue through 2025. The cost of individual building upgrades will range from $80,000 to $350,000, The Diamondback reports.

The campus’s Facilities Management department will replace the older sirens and alarm pulleys with newer, more compatible ones and overhaul control panels to specifically locate fires. Once the new smoke detectors identify a fire, they directly send details of the blaze’s location to the alarm system and fire departments, the newspaper reports.

“In the old days, if there was a fire, you wouldn’t know where it was in the building until you the saw the actual flame,” Jack Baker, Facilities Management operations and maintenance director, told the newspaper.

Along with fire alarm upgrades, the university also plans to modernize much of the campus’s aging infrastructure. The university officials have outlined 122 projects to upgrade pipes, heating and cooling systems and other systems.

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