Posing a common-sense question about a bill that would end the long-established requirement that apartment buildings taller than three stories must have two staircases, City Councilman Paris Gray put it this way:

“I think a lot of people’s concerns are, if there is a fire, what is the game plan?” he asked the bill’s sponsor, Councilman Ryan Dorsey, at a committee hearing last week.

“How are people able to get out?” Gray said, wondering how a single-stair apartment could be as safe as one with two staircases in which, during a fire, “you use one, and the fire department is actually able to go up the other.”

Dorsey began his reply with an image that caused some eyes to widen in the Council chambers.

“The two-staircase rule came from a time when the essential, like, the prevailing mentality was, if a fire starts anywhere in any building, the whole thing’s going up like a match. It’s just, you got to get everybody out as fast as possible or everybody’s dead.”

He then went into the provisions in the bill intended to ensure tenant safety, including that:

The building would not be higher than six stories and would have no more than four dwelling units per floor.

The stairway would be pressurized with mechanical devices to keep out smoke, plus two-hour, fire-rated walls and sprinklers throughout the premises.

“Because of the advancements in the advent of sprinkler systems, fire alarms, materials like drywall and fire-rated caulking and things like this, and pressurized staircases, most fires that start anywhere in any building that has a sprinkler system never spread beyond that room and are suppressed where they begin,” he stated.

• Ditching the two-staircase requirement for Baltimore apartment buildings: Overdue or unsafe? (8/11/25)

The 3rd District councilman explained that these features would “dramatically reduce the likelihood of a fire that causes a panicked evacuation of a building.”

“Because there are fewer people potentially coming down that staircase in the first place,” he said, citing the building’s more limited footprint, “the possibility of firefighters going up and residents coming down is essentially mitigated.”

Support from Fire Marshal

A zealous proponent of the single-stair idea, Dorsey has garnered support from local developers and architects as well as the city’s two top elected officials – Mayor Brandon Scott, Council President Zeke Cohen. 

Today the Land Use and Transportation Committee, which Dorsey chairs, unanimously approved the bill (25-0062) as part of a package of measures intended to remove regulatory impediments to new construction.

The legislation is expected to come before the full Council for preliminary approval on Monday.

“This change will propel sustainable development in our city favoring density, affordability and diversity, among other benefits,” Dustin Watson, a board member of the Baltimore branch of American Institute of Architects testified at last week’s hearing on the single-exit bill.

“We believe as architects that it will empower us to be innovative and brave as we pursue housing solutions for Baltimore,” Watson said.

Another speaker was Jack BeVier, with Dominion Financial Wholesale, a real estate investment company specializing in buying distressed single-family homes.

“One of the bigger factors in trying to keep projects better and more affordable is how much of the 5,000-square-foot building can we actually turn into usable square footage,” BeVier said. “The two-stair impediment is something that increases the loss factor.”

On behalf of the Baltimore Fire Marshal, Captain Dennis Duncan said amendments the Fire Department negotiated with Dorsey alleviated his office’s initial concerns about safety.

“With everything the councilperson is proposing, it’s definitely going to be 100%,” Duncan said.

Josh Fannon, president of the city fire officers union, took the same position.

He began by saying the fire code is “written in blood” and should only be revised with caution.

“I believe a high standard of care, collaboration, cooperation and due diligence did occur here in crafting this specific piece of legislation,” Fannon said. “I stand here in support.”

“Reckless and Irresponsible” Opinion Reversed

The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), however, has strongly opposed single-stair legislation.

“The IAFF supports efforts to expand affordable housing, but believes that safety must not be compromised,” the group says in a position statement. “Citizens that lack financial means should not be subjected to reduced safety standards. We oppose efforts to permit ‘one-way-out’ buildings.”

Matthew Coster, president of Baltimore Firefighters Local 734, last month wrote a letter to city residents saying he shared the international’s alarm over single-exit legislation, calling Dorsey’s bill “reckless and irresponsible.”

“We fully agree that this legislation undermines fundamental safety principles,” Coster wrote to Carson Ward, of the Reservoir Hill Association.

“A single stairwell in mid-rise construction presents unacceptable risks to both residents and firefighters. The dangers of counterflow, blocked evacuation, and delayed rescue operations are not theoretical – they are real, well-documented and potentially deadly,” Coster wrote.

Ward and fellow Reservoir Hill resident Keondra Prier have spoken against the bill on multiple occasions, saying the primarily beneficiary will be developers trying to cut building costs.

Reached by The Brew earlier this week, Coster said he has since spoken to Dorsey and Fannon and now supports Bill 25-0062.

“I’m on the same page with Josh,” he said. “I was going originally by the IAFF position. But then I talked with Dorsey, and he explained the amendments and how this has been in effect in other areas, and it’s worked for decades.”

“Dorsey walked me through it all,” he added.

Ward and Prier say the Fire Department’s requested changes to the bill, and clarification that it only applies to new construction, appear to have alleviated some safety concerns.

But they pointed out that the amendments were not made available to the public earlier in the process and that it was initially not made clear that the bill applies only to new construction.

“And I still question how can we rely on the Department of Housing and Community Development to really enforce this and make sure developers are acting in good faith, when we know that they have a very well documented history of failing in the permitting process and in code enforcement,” Ward said.

“There has obviously been a lot of pressure from the mayor’s office to get these bills passed,” she continued. “So we’re keeping our eyes open for that, and to make sure that decisions are being made in the right way.”