Cesar Diaz says he struggles to get out of bed some days after he lost his sister Melanie Diaz in a fire in a downtown Silver Spring high-rise apartment complex one year ago.
“I just wished that it was me instead of her that was gone from this world,” Diaz told members of the Maryland General Assembly House Environment and Transportation Committee during a hearing Tuesday in Annapolis as his parents looked on, crying. “[We want] to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else and that nobody else has to go home and have an empty chair and empty room and empty bed because somebody in their family is no longer here.”
Melanie Diaz, 25, 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 Georgia Avenue complex’s lack of sprinklers, which weren’t required under state law, came under scrutiny by public officials during an investigation of the fire.
On Jan. 24, state Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Dist. 20) introduced The Melanie Nicholle Diaz Fire Safety Act in the Maryland General Assembly, which would require apartment complexes to take stronger fire safety measures. A complementary Senate bill is being sponsored by Sen. Will Smith (D-Dist. 20). Charkoudian and Smith represent Silver Spring.
On Tuesday, Melanie Diaz’s parents and brother testified in support of the legislation. Although they live in Florida, they said it was important for them to advocate for the Maryland legislation because Melanie loved her Silver Spring community.
“My daughter was a beautiful 25-year-old young lady with a lot of future ahead of her,” said Melanie’s mother, Zuleika Madera. “You have the power to save and protect your community. We don’t want this to happen again to anybody.”
If passed, Charkoudian’s bill would:
- Require smoke detectors in public corridors (hallways, common spaces) that are in line with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards;
- Require fire safety instruction for existing tenants every six months and for new tenants when they move in;
- Require emergency lights in all common egresses based on NFPA codes and regulations;
- Ensure that deaf and hard-of-hearing tenants have visual alarms that are provided and paid for by the landlord;
- Require signage near the entrances indicating a building does not have sprinklers; and
- Require notice in the lease agreement for new tenants that the building does not have sprinklers.
It would also establish a state task force to develop best practices for installation of fire alarm and automatic fire sprinkler systems in high-rise buildings built prior to 1974. The task force could also create strategies to make installation more affordable, according to Charkoudian. It would be made up of fire safety experts, architects, engineers and representatives of rental buildings and condominiums.
Melanie’s father, also named Cesar Diaz, said that when Melanie moved into her apartment, there was not a smoke detector installed and he had to purchase and install one for her. He brought a smoke detector and a set of two fire extinguishers to the hearing Tuesday and set them on the table in front of him.
“I went to Home Depot and bought these for less than $100,” he said. “These come with a 10- year warranty. If you divide by year, it’s $10 a year, divided by 12 months is 83 cents. My daughter died for less than $1.”
An investigation by the fire marshal released in April 2023 found that Arrive did not provide fire extinguishers to residents in their individual units, and that tenants had to leave their units and go down the hallway to access a communal extinguisher. The residents of the apartment reportedly struggled to access an extinguisher and had to prop the door open and run into the hallway to find one, which may have fueled the fire.
It is unclear how the fire started. Melanie Diaz died in a stairwell from smoke inhalation while trying to evacuate with her two dogs, who also died.
Jeff Buddle, president of the firefighters union Professional Firefighters of Maryland, testified in support of the legislation.
“There was confusion among residents on evacuation routes and procedures [at Arrive]. The building did not contain sprinklers in the apartments and there was no functioning fire alarm in the apartment where the fire originated,” Buddle said. “The passage of this legislation would lead to much improved fire safety requirements that very well could have prevented many of the issues that occurred with this fire.”
According to state law and Montgomery 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.
Charkoudian said she’s spoken to Arrive residents over the past year who were shocked by the complex’s lack of some fire safety mechanisms because it had a visually appealing interior and was marketed as a luxury apartment complex.
“My constituents believed because they were in a building that appeared to be fully renovated and brand new, that they had all the latest safety requirements in it and they were shocked to find out that it didn’t have sprinklers,” Charkoudian said. “Many of them had injuries… damage to their items.”
Representatives from the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA) and the Maryland Multi-Housing Association (MMHA) voiced concerns Tuesday that complying with some of the proposed regulations could be difficult and expensive for building owners.
Brian Anleu, AOBA’s vice president of government affairs, said he supports the majority of the provisions in the legislation. He said AOBA agrees with the proposed signage and lease policies and that there should be smoke detectors in every unit.
However, Anleu said some of the proposed NFPA fire alarm and emergency light regulations would require complex retrofitting in older buildings.
“This requirement will trigger new fire alarm system upgrades and include addressing the audibility of the smoke alarms and interconnecting the smoke detectors with the fire alarm panel. … It’s a whole system that would need to be upgraded in a building,” Anleu said. “The cost of that could easily exceed a million dollars, which is something that’s very costly for multifamily building owners to absorb. That would have to get passed on to tenants through rent increases and that’s a real material impact that it’s going to have on those tenants.”
Del. Linda Foley (D-Dist. 15), who represents the Potomac area, asked Anleu if he could envision total compliance with NFPA guidelines.
“Not as currently drafted. I do think that there are alternatives and that’s what I think can be explored as part of this workgroup,” Anleu said. “Let’s not take this approach right now. Let’s study the issue with fire code experts over the interim, and then have them come back to this body and make recommendations on how we do exactly that.”
Foley responded: “Thank you. I hope nobody dies in a fire while we’re studying.”
The Environment and Transportation Committee will have to determine whether to submit a favorable report on the bill or request amendments before sending it on to the full House for a vote, which is not scheduled yet.