Officer Who Rescued Silver Spring Apartment Fire Victims Given Highest Honor

SILVER SPRING, MD — A Silver Spring police officer who was the first to respond to the gas explosion in the Flower Branch Apartments in August was awarded the department's highest honor at the Quarterly Awards Ceremony held at the Public Safety Headquarters Wednesday.

Officer Jeff Hughes received the Medal of Valor for his heroism and efforts helping with the explosion that killed seven people, two of whom were children, and injured many more.

Hughes was working off duty at the Flower Branch Apartments on Aug. 10 when a natural gas leak occurred and caused the explosion. He had left the apartments to assist another officer with a call at the Long Branch Library when he heard a loud explosion nearby, a Montgomery County Police Department press release says.

Hughes quickly returned to the apartments and began to help residents who were jumping to safety from their burning apartments. He then went to nearby buildings to pull fire alarms and evacuated more than 100 people.

A total of 28 apartment units were destroyed, and 50 families were displaced by the disaster. Dozens of residents were injured at the scene, some from burns and others from broken bones as they jumped from the third and fourth floors of the buildings.

The victims killed in the blast were:

• Deibi “David” Samir Lainez Morales, 8
• Fernando Josue Hernandez Orellana, 3
• Augusto Jimenez Sr., 62
• Maria Auxiliadorai Castellon-Martinez, 53
• Saul Paniagua, 65
• Aseged Mekonen, 34,
• Saeda Ibrahim, 40.

Residents had raised the issue of the lingering smell of natural gas in the area, which the fire department and an ATF official said they are investigating.

The company that runs the apartment complex, Kay Apartment Communities, sent a photo of a meter room at the Flower Branch Apartments to Montgomery Community Media. It shows a meter bank inside a building similar to the rooms damaged or destroyed in the natural gas explosion with green tag shown in the photo reportedly noting a recent inspection of the pipes and meters by Washington Gas, according to Kay officials.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said that a natural gas odor was reported on July 25. Firefighters responded to that complaint, could not verify the smell and left the scene. Federal investigators urged any residents who had noted gas leaks to contact the NTSB.

Arguing that answers would have been given immediately if an explosion and fire had killed people in a wealthy Montgomery County neighborhood, attorneys for the advocacy group CASA in November filed two lawsuits against the gas company and apartment managers on behalf of the disaster victims. The agency, along with the law firm Bailey & Glasser, LLP, are seeking an unspecified amount of money from Washington Gas and Kay Management.

Investigators are still working to unravel what caused the disaster, but say the explosion was caused by a gas leak in the meter room of the building. Leaking gas built up in the room until the explosion was sparked. Federal investigators will look at the gas transmission equipment for possible defects.

“We have been waiting long enough and the victims are entitled to justice,” CASA’s Executive Director Gustavo Torres, said in a news release, reports Montgomery Community Media. “We bring this lawsuit to force the responsible parties to finally give us straight answers to our questions. Through the courts, we will discover what really happened that tragic night and fight to get just compensation for the families of the victims," Torres said.

The news release says Washington Gas failed to ensure the security of residents by not: repairing the gas leak, properly investigating and identifying the gas leak, warning residents, and/or calling for an evacuation. The suit also claims that Washington Gas failed to perform routine inspections that would have uncovered the potential dangers and saved the lives and property of residents.

“We have been working since August with the survivors of the Flower Branch explosion and fire to get answers about the cause of the explosion that devastated this community,” said John Barrettm, an attorney with Bailey & Glasser. “We’ve asked for investigation information from half-dozen government agencies. We’ve asked for information from Washington Gas and Kay Management. They’ve delayed and danced around our demands long enough. The victims and families are tired of waiting and we have been as patient as good conscience permits. The lawsuits we filed today give us the tools to get answers,” Barrettm said.

Torres told WTOP that if the explosion had happened in a wealthy neighborhood, “I guarantee you that we [would] have an answer immediately.”

Kay management company said in a statement in rebuttal to the lawsuit claims that company representatives met twice with displaced residents of the two apartment buildings in the days immediately after the fire to help relocate families.

The management company said it returned tenants' security deposits, refunded August rent payments with an additional $1,800 check, and gave the displaced families $200 debit cards, and new furniture and housewares, including televisions, furniture and linens. The company said it also provided relocation to other Kay-managed apartments with three months of free rent and a $2,000 credit for future rent payments.

Amid lawsuits and tragedy, an internal review of Montgomery County's response and recovery shows what went wrong, and it focuses on the need for more bilingual responders.

The council was given an after-action report Feb. 14 that suggested the county should: hold periodic meetings to check in with the victims; hold drills for emergencies like the explosion and resulting fire; establish community partners with resources who can help in similar situations; and identify what kind of donations community partners can give.

Issues with the language barriers encountered at the time of the explosion were a big concern, since mostly Spanish-speaking residents lived in the Silver Spring complex. The audit found that there weren't enough bilingual staffers at the scene of the disaster and at the Long Branch Community Center, which was converted into a shelter for displaced residents. This left the survivors confused, unattended and scared.

“I saw numerous Spanish-only speakers, constituents, neighbors who were not being greeted by anybody who spoke Spanish,” Montgomery County Council member Tom Hucker, who represents the 5th District where the Flower Branch Apartments were located, said.

Hucker was unsatisfied with the report. He believes the internal review missed many key elements.

"I know you all worked very hard in the days following the fire the night of August 11th ... but I got to say I'm really sort of disappointed, because it's a missed opportunity to have an exploration of this unusual event," said Hucker.

Hucker went on to say council members involved with the emergency relief, nonprofits like CASA which helped and the actual victims weren't interviewed for the internal review.

"I think if you talk to the victims, many of them were very grateful for the services provided, but many of them were left out, too, and many of them are still struggling to get services from the county," Hucker said.

Internal auditor Bill Birdley said it was his conscious decision to not interview any of the victims because they had gone through so much.

"I didn't want me coming to them, and frankly intruding on them, to add to what they're already dealing with," Birdley said.

Hucker said many of the victims are eager to share their stories, and many of them feel slighted because their experience trying to use county services was "lacking."

"I don't think we learned what we should be learning from an event like this, a life or death emergency like this, if we just circle the wagon, but I think there's a real strong tendency to do that," Hucker said.

»Main photos of Flower Branch Apartments from Fort Detrick Forest Glen Fire & Emergency Services, Takoma Park Fire Department, Montgomery County Fire Department