Bay County, FL Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Bay County Code of Ordinances § 6-328 requires a home inspection report and certification before the county will issue a mobile home or manufactured home permit for any mobile home, manufactured home or park trailer more than ten years old, based on its date of manufacture. The inspection must be performed by a state-licensed mobile home dealer, architect, engineer, home inspector, building, residential or general contractor, or by the Bay County Building Safety Division itself, and out-of-state homes may be inspected by an equivalently licensed professional in that state.

Among the fire-safety items the inspection report must document under § 6-328(d)(1), 'approved, listed smoke detectors shall be properly located and installed, according to manufacturer's instructions, outside of each sleeping area,' and any home manufactured after 1975 must have an operable egress window or exterior door in each sleeping area with a minimum opening dimension of 22 inches. The same report also checks electrical, plumbing, HVAC and structural items, from panel clearances to water-heater relief valves. 00, the county will not issue the mobile home permit, and the home cannot be placed or set up on a parcel, until the noted repairs are completed.

This pre-inspection requirement applies specifically to placement of used mobile and manufactured homes in unincorporated Bay County; it does not set the smoke-alarm standard for conventional site-built housing, which instead follows the Florida Building Code and Florida Fire Prevention Code that Bay County adopts in toto under §§ 6-28 and 6-262.