The tragic deaths of two young Montgomery County sisters in a 2022 fire recently resulted in the passage of legislation requiring the inclusion of basic fire prevention and detection equipment and information in short-term rental units.
Effective by Oct. 1, 2026, the Jillian and Lindsay Wiener Short-Term Rental Safety Act (HB 1221/SB 624) requires rental companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo to conduct annual fire inspections while operating in Baltimore City and every Maryland county.
To meet stricter safety standards, the law mandates that rentals include operating smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide detectors, along with other safety measures.
With passage of the new law, rental units will also be required to post evacuation diagrams detailing routes to all exits while providing emergency contact information.
The law – which was passed by the Maryland General Assembly and signed by Gov. Wes Moore – was enacted in honor of Potomac residents Lindsay Eliza Wiener, 19, and Jillian Rose Wiener, 21, who died in a fire on Aug. 3, 2022, while sleeping in their family’s summer rental home in Noyac, New York.
The law — which received bipartisan support — is the first of its kind in the nation to be passed by a state legislature.
The bill was introduced by Del. Linda K. Foley (D-15th) Sen. Brian J. Feldman (D-15th), both of Montgomery County, and Del. Thomas Hutchinson (R-37 B) of Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico counties.
“We’re telling every family that has ever lost someone and turned their grief into action that your courage changes lives and your courage saves lives,” Moore said.
He said the law’s objective is to provide safe and secure accommodations for renters “in their homes and in their communities and everywhere where they are.”
The Wiener sisters were vacationing with their family in Long Island when their rental house caught fire shortly before 4 a.m. Also in the house at the time was their father, Lewis, their mother, Alisa, and their 23-year-old brother, Zachary, who were able to escape the residence without life-threatening injuries.
The sisters, who were sleeping on the second floor, were found by firefighters inside the home and pronounced dead at the hospital.
Lewis Wiener, 60, tried unsuccessfully to reenter the home after realizing that his daughters had not escaped, according to firefighters and various media reports at the time.
Lindsay Wiener was about to start her sophomore year at Tulane University, while Jillian Wiener was a rising senior at the University of Michigan. Both were graduates of the Holton-Arms School, an all-girls private school in Bethesda.
The property owners, Peter and Pamela Miller of Sag Harbor, New York, pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. They were sentenced to probation.
A prominent attorney, Lewis Wiener, who served as president of Washington Hebrew Congregation, died of pancreatic cancer in April of 2024. (At WHC, congregants raised more than $100,000 to create commemorative candlesticks by noted sculptor Zachary Oxman honoring the lives and legacy of the Wiener sisters).
In her testimony to the General Assembly, Alisa Wiener said, “I am here because my family rented a vacation home. We trusted that the home we rented was safe and that the safety checklist provided to us by Vrbo was accurate. Our story is a nightmare. It is one that I live every single day of my life.
“Nothing will change the outcome of that night for my family and me,” she said, “but I know this [law] will save lives.”
In a statement, Sen. Feldman said, “Alisa Wiener’s courage in bringing her personal catastrophe to light will undoubtedly save lives in Maryland and is a tangible way to honor the lives of her daughters, Jillian and Lindsay.”
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