Pearland, TX Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Section 10-46 adopts the International Fire Code, 2021 Edition, as the "City of Pearland Fire Code," and Section 10-47 lists the city's local amendments, effective under Ordinance No. 1211-2024 on January 22, 2024. 1, titled "Fire and Smoke Detectors," requires UL or FM approved smoke detectors in any new residential or commercial building or structure within the city, mandates that they run on electrical power with battery backup, and requires them to be interconnected so that when one detector activates, every detector in the structure sounds an audible alarm.

The amendment sets a maximum spacing standard, requiring detectors at a minimum of every 900 square feet, subject to approval by the fire marshal's office. It also reaches existing buildings: occupancies built before the ordinance are required to install battery-type smoke detectors, spaced the same 900 square feet apart and approved by the fire marshal's office, even though they are not required to run interconnected hard-wired systems like new construction. Maintenance responsibility falls on "the owner, occupant, or other person charged with the responsibility for the management, care, or maintenance of the occupancy and/or building," so a landlord as well as a homeowner can be held responsible for a detector that has been disabled or left without working batteries.

The same local amendment package separately requires automatic fire alarm wiring for commercial systems to be installed so a single device or wiring failure will not disable the rest of the system.