Silver Spring explosion: Apartments last inspected in 2018, 35 violations reported
SILVER SPRING, Md. - Today’s fire at the four-story Friendly Garden Apartments on Lyttonsville Road is bringing back memories of a deadly apartment explosion in Silver Spring back in 2016.
Laws were put into place after seven people died in that incident, but those measures might not have been followed in the last several years.
"It was reminiscent on the traumatic scene back then of this three-to-four-story apartment building that had just been leveled and collapsed," said Montgomery County Council Member Tom Hucker.
In 2016, an explosion at the Flower Branch Apartments in Silver Spring killed seven people, including two children, and left many more injured.
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Officials say a failed mercury regulator was to blame. "It is certainly true that the Flower Branch explosion uncovered the fact that there are hundreds of mercury regulators in apartment buildings all across Montgomery County but also in Prince George’s County and D.C.," said Hucker.
Following that explosion, two laws were put in place in Montgomery County. One would require landlords to report mercury regulators. The other would require problematic properties in the county to be inspected every one to three years.
County documents show the apartments at Friendly Gardens, where Thursday’s explosion took place, haven’t been inspected since 2018.
"For any property to go four years like this property did is a complete violation of law," Hucker said. He tells FOX 5 the county has publicly acknowledged they stopped inspections, blaming the ongoing pandemic.
FOX 5 asked Hucker if the county suspended in-person inspections during COVID-19. He said, "Yes, according to the county executive they did, and they defend that decision."
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Hucker went on to say, "The fact that we haven’t been inspecting thousands of apartments in Montgomery County for the last several years is really a travesty and should never have been allowed."
Documents also show during Friendly Gardens' last inspection, only 21 of the 85 units were inspected, and 35 violations were found.
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FOX 5 spoke to residents at the apartment complex who say they've reported issues several times, to no avail.
"I really hope that it spurs a more serious commitment to tenant protections from the executive branch," said Hucker.
FOX 5 has reached out to the Montgomery County executive office but has not heard back.