Moments after discovering his daughter, Melanie, died in a high-rise fire, Cesar Diaz made a silent pledge to her memory.
For the past 16 hours, Diaz had been driving his family from their Florida home to race to his daughter’s hospital bed. But at about 5 a.m. inside of a Silver Spring hotel room across the street from the smoldering apartment building, his wife, Zuleika Madera, told him the devastating news.
“I promised my daughter to fight for every single life,” Cesar Diaz recalled.
He then turned to his wife and his son, Cesar Alejandro, and asked if they would join him in promising to improve fire safety in Montgomery County and across Maryland. The pair nodded in agreement.
“We promised that to her. We don’t want anyone to feel the same pain we are feeling,” Cesar Diaz said. “Inside, we died Feb. 18, 2023.”
On Saturday, two years after Melanie’s death, the Florida family will announce a gift of more than $10,000 to help the Montgomery County fire department be the first in the country to deploy with smoke safety hoods to protect fire victims during rescues, the family and fire officials said.
Rescuers can place the hoods over the heads of fire victims as a shield against toxic smoke inhalation during rescues, particularly in high-rise building fires.
The family’s donation will pay for more than half of the department’s 60 smoke escape hoods, including on some county fire engines, ladder trucks and rescue squads, fire department officials said.
Since the fire, the Diaz family has worked with county and state lawmakers to push for change. Their advocacy culminated in the passage of two laws aimed at increasing fire safety.
“Melanie Diaz’s life matters. Her story now protects others — and that is how we ensure her legacy lives on and helps save lives,” Montgomery County Fire Chief Corey Smedley said in a statement. “The Diaz family turned heartbreak into advocacy, and their support is giving our firefighters the tools to help residents survive the most dangerous conditions.”
Melanie Diaz, 25, was found unconscious two floors below her 11th-floor apartment, along with her two dogs, during a massive fire at the Arrive apartment complex in Silver Spring in February 2023. As the fire raged, alarms failed, and the building lacked sprinklers — conditions that made survival nearly impossible, fire officials said.
The blaze injured several firefighters, left hundreds of people without homes, and some units in the building still haven’t been repaired. Investigators believe the fire started in a seventh-floor unit, but the specific cause was never determined, officials said.
The Diaz family filed a lawsuit against Arrive but both sides “reached a resolution,” said Matthew Christ, an attorney for the Diaz family, who declined to discuss specifics of the matter. Cesar Diaz also declined to discuss the suit or details of any settlement reached.
A Montgomery County fire department spokesperson said in an email that “there is limited public evidence that the building’s management has proactively announced or implemented major fire safety upgrades since the fire,” including installing full sprinkler coverage, upgraded alarms and other safety improvements.
A call and email to Arrive management were not returned Friday.
Outside the Arrive building on Georgia Avenue, there is a tree and plaque dedicated to Melanie, as well as a makeshift memorial with flowers and a sign that tells her story. It describes a child of Venezuelan immigrants who “loved Disney movies, dressed up as princesses and dreamed of saving the planet from the dangers of climate change.”
Melanie Diaz moved to the Silver Spring apartment complex after graduating from Georgetown University in 2021, before landing a job working in the energy and environmental sector of the Aspen Institute, her family said.
“She loved the state, she was a Maryland person,” Cesar Diaz said.
Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart, who also represents the Silver Spring area, credited the Diaz family for their advocacy.
In response, lawmakers strengthened tenant rights and safety protections, including requiring management to inform tenants of emergency plans and giving residents 24-hour access to a building representative.
“Melanie was very active in her community. She was very dedicated to making the world a better place,” Stewart said. “Her family is making sure her memory is not just a blessing, but something they are putting into action.”
Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery) praised the family for testifying at hearings that led to the 2024 passage of the Melanie Diaz Fire Safety Act. That act created a working group to find ways to increase fire safety measures and retrofit sprinkler systems into high-rise buildings built before 1974, before changes in building code that require sprinklers for new construction.
“They have every reason to be bitter and angry at Maryland and Montgomery County. Instead they doubled down on making Montgomery County safer,” she said. “I have learned a lot from them and been inspired by them to continue this fight.”
This year Charkoudian proposed additional legislation, based on findings from the working group, that would establish standardized training and a state approval process for assistant fire marshals operating in counties and a statewide licensing program for fire alarm technicians.
The legislation also would require sprinklers to be installed for older units that undergo renovations worth 40 percent of the building. Those same renovated buildings also would need to install smoke alarms in sleeping areas, along with fire resistant corridor doors and several other fire prevention measures.
Cesar Diaz said they will continue in their efforts, no matter the cost, and the mask donation won’t be the last work they do or money they give.
“I don’t care if I’m homeless. That’s what I’m going to do. You can replace a house, you can replace a car, you cannot replace a life,” Cesar Diaz said. “I don’t care if I have to spend all my money. We will continue to fight for her.”
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