Burlington, NC Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

Section 12-16 sits in Article II of Chapter 12, which adopts the North Carolina Fire Prevention Code, itself ratified with its supplements by the North Carolina Building Code Council under G.S. 143-138, as the city's fire prevention and control ordinance under Section 12-11. Rather than writing its own storage caps, Section 12-16 says the limits referred to in NFPA Pamphlet 58, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, in which bulk propane storage is restricted, are established by the city's zoning ordinance, a separate instrument from this Code.

That pattern repeats nearby: Section 12-14 ties aboveground flammable-liquid storage tanks to the fire district and restricted fire district, allowing bulk storage as an incidental use only with the fire chief's or the bureau of fire prevention's approval, and Section 12-15 ties bulk plants for flammable liquids to the zoning ordinance the same way propane is tied. By contrast, Section 12-17 sets explosives and blasting-agent storage limits directly from the Fire Prevention Code itself, without a zoning cross-reference, showing the city treats LP-gas and flammable-liquid bulk storage as land-use questions and explosives as a straight fire-code question.

The fire chief, through the bureau of fire prevention created under Sections 12-12 and 12-13, administers and enforces all of it, including inspecting incidental aboveground storage and recommending code amendments to the state Building Code Council.