Lafayette, LA Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

Section 26-285, part of the fire-safety division added by Ordinance No. JO-095-2022, sets Lafayette's carbon monoxide rule in two parts. 9, with a carve-out for one- and two-family homes covered by the International Residential Code, which instead follow IRC Section R315 for placement near sleeping areas and fuel-burning appliances. Subsection (b) covers upkeep: alarms and any hard-wired CO detection systems must be maintained under NFPA 720, the national standard covering sensor sensitivity, spacing and testing intervals, and a unit that goes dead or starts emitting an end-of-life signal must be replaced rather than silenced or ignored.

Enforcement runs through the same fire-safety article that governs smoke alarms and means of egress. Section 26-281(b) puts the maintenance burden on the property owner, stating that a person shall not occupy or permit occupancy of a premises that does not comply with the article's requirements. The building official administers the article and, where a missing or dead alarm rises to an imminent danger, can act under the emergency procedures of Section 26-287 without waiting on the standard notice-and-hearing process used elsewhere in chapter 26.

Because Lafayette City-Parish is a consolidated government, this fire-safety article applies inside the city limits and in the unincorporated parish alike, so the same alarm duty follows the dwelling regardless of which side of the old city line it sits on.