Mesa County, CO Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

07 of the 2020 Land Development Code opens with a mandatory instruction that new construction shall comply with the following standards, and subsection C, Wildfire Hazards, applies that mandate to homes on lands containing predominantly woods or brush through a two-zone defensible-space system. Zone 1's innermost band, Segment A, covers the first five feet around the structure, and there the code states flatly that no above-ground propane tanks, firewood or other combustible materials may be installed or stored. Move out into Segment B, the rest of Zone 1 (extending 30 to 120 feet from the structure depending on slope), and propane tanks are allowed but only if they clear a 20-foot buffer: propane tanks and firewood may be located in Segment B, but in no case shall such tanks and/or firewood be located within twenty feet of the primary structure, and they shall be located on gravel pads and shall not be located immediately adjacent to grass-covered areas.

Zone 1's width itself scales with slope, from 30 feet on land under 30 percent grade up to 120 feet down-slope on steep terrain over 55 percent, so the propane setback sits inside a defensible-space zone whose size changes with the parcel's terrain.