Doña Ana County, NM Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

Section 195-3I(1) of the County Code amends International Fire Code § 6104.2 for liquefied petroleum (LP) gas storage in the unincorporated County. The amendment ties the geographic limits on where LP-gas can be stored and used to the Unified Development Code, Chapter 350, but sets its own capacity ceiling directly in the text: the aggregate capacity of any one installation shall not exceed a 2,000-gallon water capacity in residential areas, except at a multi-container location, such as a dispensing station, and at bulk facilities. That means a single-family homeowner's propane tank or tanks, in total, cannot exceed 2,000 gallons of water capacity, though the exception opens the door for larger volumes at dispensing stations and bulk fuel facilities that aren't ordinary residential lots.

Section 195-3I(2) then layers on a fire-protection trigger keyed to size: installations with LP-gas storage containers holding more than 4,000 gallons of water capacity must provide fire protection as required by Section 6.25 of National Fire Protection Association Standard 58, the LP-Gas Code, amending IFC § 6108.1. Because the residential cap sits at 2,000 gallons, that fire-protection trigger mainly reaches the larger multi-container and bulk installations the residential cap doesn't apply to. Violations of the Fire Code's LP-gas provisions fall under the general fire code penalty in § 195-3I(3): a misdemeanor conviction for any person who violates or fails to comply with a Fire Code order or approved permit.