Montana Fire Marshal Urges Apartment Smoke Detectors

A boom in apartments for workers in the Bakken oil patch has led the Montana Fire Marshal’s Office to remind landlords that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are required by law in most homes and apartments.

Fire Marshal Allen Lorenz says the detectors are the number one way to quickly signal a fire or elevated levels of carbon monoxide.

Montana law requires landlords to install the alarms in each home or apartment and make sure they work when the dwelling is rented, leased or sold. Tenants are responsible for maintaining them.

The fire marshal’s office says roughly two-thirds of home fire deaths in the United States happen in homes without working smoke alarms.

Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless gas created when fuels wood, natural gas or coal burn incompletely.