New Britain, CT Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

New Britain adopted the 1976 American Insurance Association Fire Prevention Code by reference in Sec. 8-66, but Sec. 8-67 expressly deleted Article 21, Liquified Petroleum Gases, from that adoption, so the city's own code does not carry a general LP-gas quantity or clearance limit for residential propane tanks; that leaves state and manufacturer standards to govern ordinary backyard tank placement. The one propane-specific rule the city code does contain sits in the flood damage prevention article at Sec. 9-43(h), which applies specifically to any aboveground oil or propane storage tank located inside or outside a structure within a special flood hazard area mapped on the city's FEMA flood insurance rate map.

Such a tank must either sit on a concrete pad elevated above the base flood elevation, or be secured with tie-down straps to prevent it from floating or shifting during flooding, and in either case the fill pipe must extend above the base flood elevation and carry a screw fill cap that keeps floodwater from entering the tank. This requirement runs alongside the broader flood-hazard reduction standards in Sec. 9-45, which require new construction to be anchored against flotation and built with flood-resistant materials, and it is enforced by the city engineer, who administers the article under Sec.

9-44 and can order a violation corrected or issue a stop-work order under Sec. 9-49. A homeowner in a mapped flood zone adding or replacing an aboveground propane tank needs to meet this anchoring standard as part of any floodplain management permit application.