Taipei City Fire Department

In order to enhance residential safety among rooftop add-on units, the Fire Department and the Taipei City Construction Management Office jointly set up the “Taipei City’s Implementation Plan to Push Forward the Installation of Smoke Detector in Residential Rooftop Add-ons". Starting from October 5th, 2017, residential rooftop add-on units (primarily any interior space surrounded by four temporary or permanent walls and topped by a roof or a shelter) should purchase and install smoke detector and fill out a report which is to be delivered (mailed) to the local fire station for review. The electronic report can be downloaded from the Fire Department’s website, under “Links” at the bottom right corner of the homepage. If a rooftop add-on premise does not report to the relevant local fire station after a 30-day notice issued by the Fire Department, the case will be transferred to the Taipei City Construction Management Office and penalized under Taipei City’s Regulations on illegal Constructions.
According to Article 6 of the Fire Service Act, one who holds the right to manage a residential premise that does not require installment of automatic fire alarm equipment should install and maintain functionality of a smoke detector. Over the past three years in Taipei City, rooftop add-ons have been afflicted with 64 fire incidents (11 in 2014, 7 in 2015, 17 in 2016 and 29 in 2017), resulting in 7 deaths and 3 injuries. The 2017 fire incident in Shihlin District alone resulted in 2 deaths and highlighted some of the potentially critical risks associated with rooftop add-ons in an event of fire, including rapid burning and difficulty to escape from the premise. Without a smoke detector, one is unable to detect danger early in an event of fire incident, which easily leads to casualty.
The Fire Department stresses that smoke detector can detect the occurrence of fire in the early stage of a fire incident and alarm residents by sound to escape, increasing the success rate of escape. As of the end of September 2017, Taipei City has recorded 77 cases of successful escapes because of the installment of smoke detector. Smoke detector can be purchased from supermarkets, discount stores or fire safety equipment shops. One must not buy any product that lacks the stamp "Approved by the Ministry of Interior Fire Department". Smoke detector should also be carefully selected to fit different parts of a premise. Alarms that detect smoke should be applied in places such as dormitories, stairs and corridors, while alarms that detect temperature change should be applied in places such as kitchens.