The Montgomery County Council passed Tuesday new tenant safety regulations inspired by a deadly February 2023 fire at the Arrive Silver Spring apartment complex that claimed the life of 25-year-old Melanie Diaz.
The legislation will require residential leases to include information related to renter’s 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 fire at the downtown Silver Spring complex, which took place in her district, as well as last summer’s massive power outage at The Grand, a North Bethesda apartment complex.
“This has been something that we worked closely with the county staff and members of the public after the fire took the life of Melanie Diaz,” Stewart said Tuesday. “That day, we were working with members of the public and listening to their stories and what they went through during that event and realized that there was so much we could do here in the county to make sure that there was better preparation for emergencies and better information sharing.”
The bill will require multiunit apartment complex owners to notify residents and prospective renters about whether their buildings have sprinklers and to 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 Feb. 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 weren’t required under state law, came under scrutiny by public officials.
According to state law and county regulations, sprinklers are not required in every unit of buildings built prior to 1974. More than 70 apartment complexes countywide don’t have sprinklers in every unit, according to multiple news reports.
Local fire officials have said that 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 traveled from Florida to testify, and other survivors of the fire urged the council to pass the bill.
“My daughter lost her life because people cut corners,” Melanie Diaz’s father, Cesar Diaz, said through tears, testifying in support of the legislation at the public hearing. “This building did not provide for my daughter’s safety … nobody cared.”
The legislation also requires complexes that sell their own insurance to explain the policies in greater detail. Stewart said many of her constituents who were displaced from the building as well as those affected by the power outage in North Bethesda thought that renter’s insurance purchased through the property management company would insure their belongings, but it actually insured the management company.
On Tuesday, the council also passed an amendment to the initial proposed legislation introduced by councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5). The amendment will “allow the county to require multi-family properties generating a high volume of fire-related service calls to submit a [safety] plan addendum with additional interventions to address root cause,” Mink said.
Another amendment approved by the council , proposed by Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), will requires landlords’ emergency safety plans to be approved by the county Department of Permitting Services instead of by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
The passage of the legislation follows the Maryland General Assembly’s adoption during its 2024 session of a bill sponsored by Silver Spring-based Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Dist. 20) that requires apartment complexes to take stronger fire safety measures, including installing fire alarms and emergency lights in common areas and requiring fire safety education and evacuation information to be provided to tenants.