Pye-Barker Fire & Safety has acquired Absolute Fire Protection, a fire sprinkler and fire alarm company based in Annapolis, Md.

Absolute Fire Protection serves the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metro area, all of Maryland and areas of Delaware. The acquisition strengthens Pye-Barker’s growing presence in the Mid-Atlantic and amplifies the company’s ability to provide full fire code-compliance to businesses across the region.

Absolute Fire Protection provides end-to-end fire sprinkler services, fire alarm installation and 24/7 alarm monitoring. It was founded in 1989 by Larry Cate and Dan Mathias who met as Maryland high school freshmen and dreamed of starting their own business, according to an announcement. While they were still in college — Cate at Towson University and Mathias at University of Maryland — Absolute Fire Protection was born.

“From a single sprinkler job when we were 22 years old to a thriving business with more than 100 team members, we’re proud of what we’ve built at Absolute Fire," said Cate. “We trust Pye-Barker to honor Absolute’s legacy as we take this next step.”

Cate and Mathias proudly promote the industry to youth with investment in their community college’s skilled trade development center and the creation of an advanced training facility for Absolute's apprenticeship program.

“Our team's career paths depend on our company’s growth, and Pye-Barker’s resources will provide a new level of opportunity for everyone to progress,” said Mathias.

“Larry and Dan are the type of people we admire at Pye-Barker — go-getters who worked hard to build their business and use their success to uplift others,” said Bart Proctor, CEO at Pye-Barker. “We’re honored to carry on their legacy with the highly skilled Absolute team.”

Cate, Mathias and Absolute’s technicians and engineers will continue to serve customers in the Mid-Atlantic. 

Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, which bills itself as the largest fully integrated and full-service fire protection, life safety and security services provider in the United States, has more than 200 locations and 6,000 team members nationwide. The company ranked and No. 9 on the 2023 SDM 100.