Queensland fire alarm legislation — what home owners need to know

A recent tragedy has put Queensland’s fire alarm legislation back on the radar for home owners who must comply with strict new rules by 2027.

The Easter long weekend ended in tragedy when six-year-old Max Chirila died in a house fire in Brisbane’s inner north on Monday. 

The Fire and Emergency Services (Domestic Smoke Alarms) Amendment Act 2016 (Qld) commenced on January 1, 2017 and imposed additional obligations on property owners and managers regarding the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms at domestic dwellings.

If the existing smoke alarms were manufactured less than 10 years ago and are still in good working order, they can remain in place until 2027 when the smoke alarms are required to be AS 3786-2014 compliant.

But that’s just for owner-occupiers.

Since January 1 this year, where properties were sold, leased or having a lease renewed, hardwired photoelectric smoke alarms must be installed.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services website states that smoke alarms in the dwelling must also be less than 10 years old; operate when tested; and be interconnected with every other smoke alarm in the dwelling so all activate together.

They must not also include an ionisation sensor.

Smoke alarms must be installed on each storey, in each bedroom; in hallways that connect bedrooms and the rest of the dwelling or, if there is no hallway, between the bedrooms and other parts of the storey.

If there are no bedrooms on a storey, at least one smoke alarm must be installed in the most likely path of travel to exit the dwelling.

Smoke alarms must be hardwired or powered by a non-removable 10-year battery, or a combination of both may be allowed.

Queensland Fire Alarms & Compliance’s Jason Lee said the stipulation that smoke alarms be connected was to ensure occupants of a home were alerted to a fire in any part of the property.

“If there’s smoke in a downstairs area, the smoke alarm should go off in an upstairs area too,” he said.

“The laws have come out for a reason. If you’re in a two-storey house you own and the downstairs fire alarm is not interconnected you may not know about a fire in time.

“Only an interconnected fire alarm will give you sufficient time to get out.”

Mr Lee said photoelectric smoke alarms could “see smoke before they sense it inside” and owners should install the devices as soon as possible.

He said the cost to upgrade a smoke alarm system started from about $120 per alarm, excluding labour.