City landlords discussed ways to standardize and enforce fire safety requirements for their tenants at two separate meetings Wednesday night in response to the fire in a Princeton Avenue rental property Saturday.

City Director of Public Services Bob Ryan said the city may look to develop a model lease landlords could use to discourage hazardous habits like smoking in their rental homes, but some landlords were concerned that stricter rules would be tough to enforce.

Dave Dorsch, chairman of the College Park Landlords’ Committee, said a uniform lease for city rental properties would not be effective.

“Having [a safety clause] in the lease and enforcing it are two different things,” he said.

Some say they already follow a fairly standard lease developed by the Prince George’s County Property Owners Association, which often includes no-smoking clauses or maintenance requirements aimed at improving safety.

Landlord Don Kirsch adds clauses to his leases prohibiting his tenants from storing flammable materials or gas-powered motors indoors — the result of a 1991 accident when a tenant stored a motorcycle in a basement.

Kirsch also adds a $50 fine if he finds faulty smoke detectors or too many extension cords, he said. While landlords might not embrace city-mandated lease standards — fearing a loss of competition, he said — they were already looking to include more safety measures in their leases.

Martin Brincefield owns six properties in College Park. He said he spoke to his renters about keeping grills off decks and at least 30 feet away from the homes and has included a clause in his lease prohibiting other practices that could cause fires.

“I talked to every one of my tenants to make sure everyone was well aware of the hazards, especially those who have wooden decks,” Brincefield said.

Dorsch and Brincefield also addressed adding sprinkler systems and said it remained unlikely all landlords would support retrofitting older homes.

“Some landlords have voluntarily installed sprinklers, and it’s certainly something you can do, but it comes at a high cost,” Brincefield said.

While it may be simple to install sprinkler systems in new housing — as required by Prince George’s County law — Dorsch said retrofitting an existing house could be very expensive.

College Park Volunteer Fire Department Chief Frederick Welsh told the city council that sprinklers would likely have reduced the severity of Saturday’s fire by limiting the fire and smoke to the exterior of the house, but Dorsch said it was hard to say if they would have saved the life of senior Michael Anthony Scrocca.

The council passed a bill in October 2003 requiring off-campus Greek housing to install sprinkler systems, and a task force is currently investigating the costs of installing them in high-rise apartment buildings such as the Knox and Hartwick Towers and the Attick Towers senior housing.

While the task force initially recommended against requiring sprinklers in the high-rises last year, it also suggested the council entice landlords with tax incentives for installing them voluntarily. The city already waives its requirements for two fire exits per bedroom if the house has a sprinkler system, Ryan said.

Representatives from the Prince George’s County Property Owners Association, city and university and the state fire marshal met Monday to discuss a fire safety awareness initiative.

“The emphasis is on making sure people have working smoke alarms and two exits out of every room,” Ryan said. “Every one of these groups has a vested interest in preventing this from happening again.”

University Fire Marshal Alan Sactor spoke to landlords in the Prince George’s County Property Owners Association Wednesday night about basic fire safety as part of this initiative.

Sactor detailed housing codes related to fire safety and encouraged landlords to educate their residents, and bring older residences into accordance.

College Park landlord John Hawvermale said most of his properties are new and meet Sactor’s recommendations. He plans to retrofit his lone older house with connected smoke alarms, which would all sound if one detected smoke.

Sactor distributed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Get out and stay alive” brochure, encouraging landlords to use it as a blueprint to teach renters about fire safety. He said he was optimistic the outreach effort would be effective.

“This young fellow’s life was not lost in vain; it will lead to some changes,” Brincefield said.

Senior staff writer Matt Santoni contributed to this report.