After 25-year-old Melanie Diaz, of Silver Spring, died of smoke inhalation in a high-rise fire at the Arrive apartment complex in 2023, her family members raised money to provide firefighters with fire hoods, a safety device they say could save lives.
Now, there’s an effort to expand their use, but at certain apartment complexes across Montgomery County.
“Thanks to a generous donation from the Diaz family, we completed an initiative in January of 2026 that equipped every front-line engine, ladder truck and heavy rescue squad in Montgomery County with a smoke escape hood for victim rescue,” Dominic Colletti, assistant chief with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, told the Montgomery County Council…