FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. ( DC News Now ) — A new bill has been introduced to the Maryland General Assembly that would strengthen regulations on the use of a common household product after it was linked to the death of a Frederick County firefighter.
Frederick County Battalion Chief Josh Laird’s widow is pushing to get the newly proposed legislation passed.
Josh Laird was a 22-year veteran of the Department of Fire Rescue Services when he died in the line of duty in August 2021.
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“He was trapped in the basement,” the late Josh Laird’s wife, Sara Laird, said. “[He] fell through the floor and was trapped in the basement of a house.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the fire and found that lightning hit the house and that punched holes in the gas line, made of CSST tubing.
“It traveled down a coax line that had been there for like a dish or TV and eventually made contact with the CSST and caused four perforations and so those four holes created almost a blowtorch effect,” Laird said.