Council passes legislation inspired by deadly Silver Spring apartment fire

The Montgomery County Council passed new tenant safety regulations Tuesday, inspired by the tragic February 2023 fire at the Arrive Silver Spring apartment complex that claimed the life of 25-year-old Melanie Diaz.

The regulations will require residential leases to include information about renter’s insurance, automatic sprinkler systems and emergency evacuation and safety plans.

Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Ward 4) sponsored the bill after speaking with residents who experienced the fire at the downtown Silver Spring complex in her district, as well as a major power outage at The Grand, an apartment complex in North Bethesda, last summer.

“This is something we worked very closely with county staff and members of the public on after the fire took the life of Melanie Diaz,” Stewart said Tuesday. “We worked with members of the public that day and listened to their stories and what they experienced during this event, and we realized there was so much we could do here in the county to make sure there was better preparedness for emergencies and better sharing of information.”

The bill would require owners of multifamily housing complexes to inform residents and potential tenants whether their buildings are equipped with sprinklers, as well as provide information about the risks associated with living in a building without sprinklers.

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

Under state law and county regulations, sprinklers are not required in any building constructed before 1974. According to multiple news reports, more than 70 apartment complexes across the county do not have sprinklers in every apartment.

Local firefighters said the use of sprinklers could have helped extinguish the Arrive fire and potentially saved Diaz’s life.

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

“My daughter lost her life because people took the easy way out,” Melanie Diaz’s father, Cesar Diaz, said through tears as he testified in support of the legislation at a public hearing. “This building was not keeping my daughter safe… nobody cared.”

The regulations also require complexes that sell their own insurance to explain the rules in more detail. Stewart said many of her constituents who were displaced from their buildings, as well as those affected by the North Bethesda power outage, thought renter’s insurance purchased through the property management company would cover their belongings, but in fact it was insuring the management company.

The council also passed an amendment to the original bill introduced by Councilwoman Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) on Tuesday. The amendment “would allow the county to require multifamily properties that generate a high number of fire-related calls to submit a (safety) plan addendum 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), would require that property owner emergency safety plans be approved by the county Department of Permit Services, rather than the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

The bill’s passage comes after the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill during its 2024 session by Silver Spring Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Dist. 20) that would require apartment complexes to take more stringent fire safety measures, including installing fire alarms and emergency lighting in common areas and providing tenants with fire safety training and evacuation information.

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