A woman suffered burn injuries and two cats died after a candle ignited a closet fire inside an eighth-floor unit at the Blair Plaza apartment building in Silver Spring on Friday night. Montgomery County firefighters were dispatched to the 15-story high-rise in the 1400 block of Blair Mill Road around 10:15 p.m. after a 911 caller reported flames coming from the closet, and crews confined the blaze to the single unit before putting it out.
According to DC News Now, about 70 firefighters responded to the scene, per a social media post from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson David Pazos. Fire investigators determined the fire was caused by a candle inside the closet, and firefighters later removed a dead cat from the unit, with two apartments sustaining water damage from the firefighting effort. The building, which sits at 1401 Blair Mill Road and is managed by The Tower Companies as part of The Blairs community, is a 330-unit high-rise, according to Tower Companies.
Resident Burned While Trying to Fight the Flames Herself
An MCFRS report relayed by Daily Voice revealed that Blair Plaza was not equipped with fire sprinklers inside individual apartment units when the fire broke out. The same outlet reported that MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer confirmed the resident sustained non-life-threatening burn injuries while attempting to extinguish the closet fire herself, before emergency crews located her and transported her to a hospital. Fire officials generally advise residents to evacuate immediately rather than attempt to fight indoor fires without proper equipment.
Nationally, candles remain a persistent fire hazard inside homes. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that U.S. fire departments respond to roughly 5,800 home structure fires started by candles each year, with nearly 60 percent traced to combustible items placed too close to an open flame, according to the organization's research.
A Known Gap in Silver Spring's Aging High-Rises
Blair Plaza's lack of in-unit sprinklers is not an isolated case. A Montgomery County government document published in September 2023 found that 76 residential high-rise buildings across the county lacked automatic fire sprinklers inside individual apartment units, and a state legislative workgroup study reported by The Pew Charitable Trusts identified roughly 300 such buildings statewide constructed before 1974 without complete sprinkler coverage.
The gap drew intense scrutiny after a fatal February 2023 three-alarm fire at the un-sprinklered Arrive Silver Spring complex killed one resident and injured 19 others, prompting Maryland to pass the Melanie Diaz Fire Safety Act, according to past Hoodline reporting. That law set a 2033 deadline for full sprinkler retrofits statewide, and under Section 9-403 of the Maryland Public Safety Code, owners of un-sprinklered high-rise rentals have been required since January 2025 to give tenants conspicuous written lease disclosures warning that their building lacks full sprinkler coverage.
Fatal Fires Have Declined, But Pets Remain Vulnerable
Montgomery County recorded six residential fire deaths across six separate incidents in 2024, down from 10 fatalities the year before, per the Maryland State Fire Marshal's annual fire fatality report. The Blair Plaza fire adds to a grimmer tally for animals: the American Red Cross estimates that roughly 40,000 pets die in U.S. residential structure fires each year, mostly from smoke inhalation, a figure Hoodline has cited in its coverage of a Bethesda house fire that also killed a dog last month.
Fire crews were ultimately able to keep Friday night's fire contained to one unit, limiting the damage to the affected apartment and two others hit by water.
