On August 10, 2016, at 11:51 p.m., eastern daylight time, a 14-unit apartment building, located at 8701 Arliss Street, in the unincorporated community of Silver Spring, in Montgomery County, Maryland, partially collapsed due to a natural gas-fueled explosion and fire.
The explosion and fire also heavily damaged an adjacent apartment building, 8703 Arliss Street, which shared a common wall with building 8701.
As a result of this accident, 7 residents died, 65 residents were transported to the hospital, and 3 firefighters were treated and released from the hospital. The damage from the accident exceeded $1 million.
The probable cause of the explosion in building 8701 of the Flower Branch apartment complex was the failure of an indoor mercury service regulator with an unconnected vent line that allowed natural gas into the meter room where it accumulated and ignited from an unknown ignition source. Contributing to the accident was the location of the mercury service regulators where leak detection by odor was not readily available.
We made recommendations to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Public Service Commission of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia State Corporation Commission Division of Public Utility Regulation, and the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, the International Code Council, the National Fire Protection Association, and the Gas Technology Institute, Washington Gas Light Company.
