San Antonio, TX Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

The City of San Antonio adopted the 2024 International Fire Code through Sec. 9. 1, targets existing Group R-2 occupancies, meaning apartment buildings and other multifamily dwelling and sleeping units. A retrofit is required if either the code in effect when the building was constructed already called for CO detectors, or the unit sits in a building with fuel-burning appliances serving more than one dwelling or sleeping unit. Owners had one year from October 1, 2018, a compliance deadline of October 1, 2019, to install the required alarms.

Where the original construction code required alarms, they must meet that code's standard; where it did not, battery-operated or plug-in CO alarms are permitted, including combination smoke/CO units, and battery-only alarms are allowed where a unit is not served by commercial power. 4 requires that where more than one carbon monoxide alarm is installed, the alarms must be interconnected so one activation triggers all alarms in the dwelling or sleeping unit, unless the alarms are listed wireless units that already sound together. 5 satisfies the requirement, and CO detection is not required in an individual unit where an electric or sealed-battery CO alarm already sits in the room housing the shared fuel-burning appliance and in the units immediately adjacent to it. The San Antonio Fire Department's Fire Prevention Division enforces the International Fire Code under Section 11-34.