Landlords would be required to install exterior fire escape ladders for residential rental units on the third floor and above, if bills sponsored by local legislators becomes law.

State Sens. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering and Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, are sponsoring bills that would give rental property owners 180 days to add the ladders. State Rep. Rick Perales, R-Beavercreek, is sponsoring a similar measure in the House.

Lehner said property owners could meet the requirement with portable emergency ladders that are installed and kept in a case beside a window. The ladders, which cost a few hundred dollars, are tossed out in an emergency and people climb down to safety.

“As many colleges and universities resume classes, it’s important that we raise awareness about the dangers of not having a second means of egress in rental homes in our campus communities,” said Beagle in a written statement. He added that over the past 15 years, college students in central and southwest Ohio have perished in fires where a second escape route wasn’t available.

Beagle and Lehner sponsored a similar bill last year but it didn’t make it out of committee. The bills do not apply to hotels, dorms or buildings with fire suppression systems. Beagle said he does not know how many housing units the bill would cover.

The lawmakers started pushing the change to state law after two University of Cincinnati students from the Miami Valley died in a fire when they couldn’t escape from a third-story attic bedroom.

Ellen Garner and Chad Kohls’ only escape routes were a 36-foot jump from a third story window onto pavement or through a smoke-filled interior stairwell. They succumbed to smoke inhalation before firefighters could rescue them and later died.

The fire broke out Jan. 1, 2013 when a space heater was placed too close to bedding. Garner, 20, was a 2010 graduate of Tippecanoe High School and Kohls, 21, was a 2009 Centerville High School graduate. Ten people were in the house when the fire started on the second story.

Ohio Fire Marshal spokesman Bill Krugh said the marshal’s office does not take positions on pending legislation.