Lower Paxton, PA Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Article II of Chapter 90 of the Lower Paxton Township Code, Smoke Detectors, was adopted 11-15-1990 by Ord. No. 90-16, and § 90-2 was amended 12-17-1990 by Ord. No. 90-19. The duty sits on the owner of the real estate. Section 90-1 defines owner as any person with legal title or with charge, care or control as an agent, fiduciary, trustee or court-appointed representative, and the definition does not include a lessee, a sublessee or other person who merely has the right to occupy the premises. A tenant is therefore not the party the article regulates.

Section 90-2 requires that each dwelling unit, or individual apartment within a building used as a multiple dwelling, be provided with smoke detector sensing devices that have received Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., approval. They are provided in accordance with the Uniform Construction Code, with one stated relaxation: all smoke detectors need not be connected to a sounding device or other detectors to provide, when actuated, an alarm audible in all sleeping areas.

The definition of smoke detector in § 90-1 is a device that detects visible or invisible particles of combustion and is capable of providing a suitable audible alarm of at least 85 decibels at 10 feet, either ionization or photoelectric type. Section 90-3 adds that the device must provide an alarm suitable to warn occupants within individual dwelling units in the event of fire.

Timing and the sale of a home are covered by §§ 90-4 and 90-5. The devices must be installed by the owner not later than upon change of ownership. At the time of settlement, the seller certifies and the buyer acknowledges, under oath, on a form provided by the Township, that the dwelling complies.

A connected detector has its own cost under § 59-10: an owner of a smoke detector that calls for a Police or Fire Department response is charged a response charge, set by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, for each false alarm after the third in a calendar year.