MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — Nearly three years after 25-year-old Melanie Diaz died in a high-rise fire in Silver Spring, her family continues to honor her legacy with the mission of improving fire safety in Montgomery County and across Maryland.
At a news conference Saturday, the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Department and county officials announced a monetary donation from the Diaz family to help the fire department implement smoke rescue hoods, a mask designed to provide respiratory protection for people in smoke-filled environments.
With the donation, the MCFRS is the first large fire and rescue department in the United States to widely deploy smoke-evacuation hoods in rescues, officials noted.
“We here have over 75 high-rise residential buildings without automatic sprinkler systems,” MCFRS Chief Corey Smedley said at Saturday’s news conference. “This is not just a statistic, it is a hazard to our residents, families and firefighters.”…