Walker County, GA Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Walker County Code § 22-387 requires a placement permit before any manufactured or mobile home can be located, stored, occupied or used anywhere in the unincorporated county, and the permit application is reviewed against a checklist of interior and safety conditions. Item (a)(13) of that checklist requires each manufactured home to contain one operable, battery-powered smoke detector in every bedroom and in the kitchen, installed according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The smoke detector requirement sits alongside related life-safety items in the same subsection: every bedroom must have at least one operable egress window sized for escape, the kitchen must have a working window or other ventilation device, and heating systems must be safe and working, with unvented heaters flatly prohibited.

The Planning Commission's inspectors check these items as part of the placement permit review, and homes found out of compliance on a third inspection have their placement permit revoked and must be removed from the county at the owner's expense. The rule applies to homes newly moved into the county as well as homes already in place before an owner rents, occupies or transfers them; whoever occupies a home is responsible for confirming it carries a valid placement permit, which by definition means the smoke detector and the rest of the interior safety checklist have already been verified.