Loveland, CO Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

020(EE), keeps the adopted 2021 International Residential Code's baseline requirement that smoke alarms be provided in dwelling units, then adds a local requirement unique to Loveland: an approved exterior strobe on all new one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes, mounted where it is readily visible from the roadway fronting the structure. The strobe has to activate whenever any smoke or heat detection device in the house triggers, giving Loveland Fire Rescue Authority crews a visual cue from the street before they enter. The Building Official can require strobes on more than one side of a building where a single strobe would not be visible from all approach routes.

The amendment sits alongside a second local requirement in the same section: a heat detector in the garage of a one- and two-family dwelling must be tied into the house's interconnected smoke and CO alarm system, so that any device triggering sets off every alarm in the home. 010, and both the smoke-alarm and strobe requirements apply to new construction covered by that code; the amendment package was enacted by Ordinance No. 6372 on December 15, 2020, and most recently carried forward by Ordinance No. 6586 on November 15, 2022.