Whilst compliance with a Fire Order is the responsibility of the Owners Corporation, there’s no impedement to it seeking a reimbursement of any component of its total costs that involved consequent works on lot owners’ property.
So the Strata Manager’s original advice was correct, although it now seems that he’s confusing responsibilty for compliance with responsibility for payment.
Whilst the amount of owners’ reimbursements cannot be added to their respective levies as they were determined / set at the most recent AGM, they can be added as a separate line-item on the next contributions invoice/s.