Council adopts rules inspired by deadly Silver Spring apartment fire

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday adopted new safety regulations for tenants inspired by a deadly February 2023 fire at the Arrive Silver Spring apartment complex that killed 25-year-old Melanie Diaz.

The legislation will require residential leases to include information about tenant insurance, automatic sprinkler systems and emergency evacuation and safety plans.

Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) sponsored the legislation after speaking to residents who survived the downtown Silver Spring apartment complex fire in her district, as well as last summer’s massive power outage at The Grand, an apartment complex in North Bethesda.

“We worked closely with county staff and members of the public after the fire that took the life of Melanie Diaz,” Stewart said Tuesday. “That day, we worked with members of the public and listened to their stories and what they experienced during that event and we realized there was a lot that could be done here in the county to make sure there was better emergency preparedness and better information sharing.”

The bill would require owners of multi-unit apartment complexes to notify residents and potential tenants whether their buildings have sprinklers and provide information about the risks of living in a building without sprinklers.

Diaz died following a three-alarm fire at the Arrive Silver Spring apartment complex on February 18, 2023. At least 17 other residents and three firefighters were hospitalized, and nearly 400 residents were displaced after their units were condemned. The complex’s lack of sprinklers, which was not required by state law, drew scrutiny from state officials.

Under state law and county regulations, sprinklers are not required in every unit of buildings built before 1974. More than 70 apartment complexes throughout the county do not have sprinklers in every unit, according to multiple news reports.

Local firefighters said the sprinklers would have made a difference in the Arrive fire and potentially saved Diaz’s life.

At a public hearing in April, Diaz’s family members, who came from Florida to testify, and other fire survivors urged the council to pass the bill.

“My daughter lost her life because people made concessions,” said Melanie Diaz’s father, Cesar Diaz, who testified in favor of the law at the public hearing, through tears. “That building did not keep my daughter safe … no one cared.”

The law also requires complexes that sell their own insurance to explain their policies in more detail. Stewart said many of his constituents who were displaced from the building as well as those affected by the power outage in North Bethesda thought the renters insurance purchased through the property management company would insure their properties, but in fact it insures the management company.

On Tuesday, the council also passed an amendment to the original bill introduced by Councilwoman Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5). The amendment “will allow the county to require multifamily properties generating a high volume of fire-related calls for service to submit an addendum to the (safety) plan with additional interventions to address the root cause,” Mink said.

Another amendment approved by the council, proposed by the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), will require landlords’ emergency safety plans to be approved by the county’s Department of Permit Services rather than the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

The bill’s passage follows the Maryland General Assembly’s passage in its 2024 session of a bill sponsored by Rep. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Dist. 20), based in Silver Spring, that requires apartment complexes to take stronger fire safety measures, including installing fire alarms and emergency lights in common areas and requiring tenants to receive fire safety education and evacuation information.

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