Minnehaha County, SD Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

3 of the 2021 IRC, adopted by Minnehaha County under Ordinance MC 62-22 (adopted April 19, 2022, effective May 31, 2022, and applicable to building permits issued after May 27, 2022), lists five required smoke alarm locations: inside every sleeping room; outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms; on every additional story of the dwelling, including basements and habitable attics (crawl spaces and uninhabitable attics are excluded); in split-level units, one alarm on the upper level can cover the adjacent lower level if that level is less than a full story below; and in any hallway or room open to a hallway serving bedrooms where the ceiling is at least 24 inches taller than the hallway ceiling (hallways under 4 feet long are exempt from this last rule).

Alarms may not sit within 3 feet horizontally of a bathroom door or opening containing a tub or shower unless that placement would block a required alarm entirely. 4 requires that where more than one alarm is needed in a unit, the alarms be interconnected so that one activation sounds every alarm in the dwelling; physical interconnection is waived if listed wireless alarms are used and all units sound together. 2 extends the same placement standard to any alteration, repair, or addition project with a permit valuation over $1,000, or any project that adds a sleeping room, except work limited to exterior surfaces (roofing, siding, window or door replacement, porch or deck addition) or to plumbing or mechanical systems alone. The county repealed the prior building code, Ordinance MC55-19, when it adopted this chapter.