A proposed Montgomery County bill would force owners of tall apartment buildings to stock smoke escape hoods for tenants during fire emergencies.

Bill 43-26, sponsored by Councilmember Kate Stewart, would apply to multifamily rental buildings five stories or taller countywide, including qualifying buildings in the Potomac area. Owners would need to provide enough hoods for at least 5% of a building's maximum occupancy. The county fire chief could raise that to 10% based on a building's safety systems, Bethesda Magazine reported.

The hoods use a chemical catalyst to give the wearer 15 minutes of filtered air, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Assistant Chief Dominic Colletti. He told the council the devices are already on every MCFRS engine, ladder truck and heavy rescue squad. MCFRS serves Potomac and the rest of the county.

The Diaz family funded that equipment. They donated $10,000 to purchase smoke hoods for fire crews after Melanie Diaz, 25, died of smoke inhalation while trying to evacuate the Arrive Silver Spring apartment complex during a Feb. 18, 2023, fire. The building had no sprinkler system.

At a public hearing Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Rockville, her brother Cesar Alejandro-Diaz told the council that first responders are always minutes away when residents have only seconds. That was the case for his sister, he said.

Their father, Cesar Augusto-Diaz, turned to housing industry representatives in the room and grew visibly emotional, according to Bethesda Magazine. He broke down the cost: $350 for a hood with a 15-year warranty, or about $1.90 a month. "This is not about money. This is about life," he said.

Colletti said Montgomery County is, to his knowledge, the first county in the nation where a fire department has deployed the technology.

Not everyone supports the bill. Charlie Nulsen, founder and president of Bethesda-based Washington Property Company, called it "an excessive reaction to a rare event" and warned it would hurt housing affordability. Gabrielle Duvall, president of McLean, Virginia-based Southern Management Companies, said the bill was arbitrary because it covers rental apartments but not high-rise condominiums, office buildings or the county's more than 25 hotels over five stories.

A council staff report estimates each hood costs about $335 and lasts up to 15 years with periodic filter changes.

The bill has five cosponsors: Council President Natali Fani-González, Vice President Marilyn Balcombe and council members Shebra Evans, Sidney Katz and Dawn Luedtke. Stewart also sponsored the 2024 Melanie Diaz Act, which required residential leases to include information about sprinkler systems, renter's insurance and evacuation plans.

The Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington said in a September statement, as reported by The Banner, that the hood device remains largely untested as a fire safety tool and that the requirement would be the first of its kind in the country.

The council's public safety committee had not scheduled a review of the bill as of Thursday, Oct. 8. Residents can contact the Montgomery County Council at 240-777-7900 for updates on the bill's progress.