Maryland Public Safety Section 9-402

      (a)      The purpose of this subtitle is to provide for the physical safety and protection of property of occupants of high-rise buildings in case of fire.

      (b)      (1)      Without adequate protection, residents of high-rise buildings are dependent on descending multiple flights of steps or jumping from windows when a fire occurs.

            (2)      For many elderly residents of high-rise buildings, this is physically impossible.

            (3)      Most fire fighting and rescue operations are also conducted inside the high-rise building, where there are greater obstacles to rescuing occupants and controlling and extinguishing the fire.

            (4)      Many tragedies could be avoided by installation of automatic fire extinguishing equipment in these situations, usually at no great additional cost to builders.