Madison city leaders are sounding an alarm on the city’s smoke detector regulations.
Ald. Mike Verveer wants to require tamper-proof smoke alarms in every apartment unit. The alarms would have to be installed on both sides of a bedroom door. Essentially, one smoke detector per bedroom. They would need to be hard wired and last for at least 10 years.
Single family homeowners, residents of duplexes, condos, and mobile homes would have to replace all smoke detectors that are 10 years old or older.
City fire inspectors support Verveer’s proposal, which has been in the works since a fatal house fire near the UW-Madison campus last November. The home did not have working smoke detectors.