Local agencies are reminding owners of multi-family units to follow the state’s new carbon monoxide alarm law.

The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, requires owners of apartment buildings to install an alarm in each unit.

Owners of single-family homes with attached garages were required to install such alarms as of July 1, 2011.

The device helps alert people to the poisonous and potentially fatal gas with no smell or color that typically comes from heaters, fireplaces, furnaces and other types of appliances, officials said.

“Many consumers are likely unaware of the need to have their homes equipped, and many may need to remind their landlords to act,” officials with the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County and Santa Maria fire departments announced in a press release Wednesday.

Failure to equip a property with a carbon monoxide alarm is punishable by a maximum fine of $200 per offense, authorities said.

Earlier this month, the Atascadero Fire Department also reminded residents to install the alarms.