Gresham, OR Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)
Key Facts
- Applies to
- R-2, R-3, R-4 dwellings
- Placement
- outside sleeping areas, in bedrooms
- Coverage
- every story, including basements
- Excluded
- crawl spaces, uninhabitable attics
- Source
- amended ICC PMC § 704.2
Summary
Gresham's amended Property Maintenance Code requires a working smoke alarm outside every sleeping area, inside every bedroom, and on every story of a dwelling, including basements, under its adopted Section 704.2.
704.2 Smoke Alarms. Single or multiple-station smoke alarms shall be installed and maintained in Groups R-2, R-3, R-4 and in dwellings not regulated in Group R occupancies, regardless of occupant load at all of the following locations:
1. On the ceiling or wall outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of bedrooms.
2. In each room used for sleeping purposes.
3. In each story within a dwelling unit, including basements and cellars but not including crawl spaces and uninhabitable attics. In dwellings or a dwelling unit with split levels and without an intervening door between the adjacent levels, a smoke alarm installed on the upper level shall suffice for the adjacent lower level provided that the lower level is less than one full story below the upper level. Single or multiple-station smoke alarms shall be installed in other groups in accordance with GRC Article 10.25.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: the cited page had not changed since it was quoted.
Full Breakdown
GRC 10.30.035 adopts the International Property Maintenance Code, 2012 Edition, as the city's PMC and amends several of its sections in the ordinance text itself. Section 704.2, Smoke Alarms, as amended for Gresham, requires single- or multiple-station smoke alarms in Groups R-2, R-3, R-4 and other regulated dwellings, placed on the ceiling or wall outside each sleeping area, in every room used for sleeping, and on every story of the dwelling unit including basements and cellars, though not in crawl spaces or uninhabitable attics. A split-level upper-floor alarm can serve the level below it if that level is less than a full story down.
Violations & Fines
A dwelling found without the required smoke alarms is a Property Maintenance Code violation, enforceable by the manager under GRC Article 10.30 alongside the nuisance and code-enforcement remedies in GRC Article 7.50.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Gresham require a smoke alarm in every bedroom?
Does my basement need its own smoke alarm?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Gresham
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