Shoreline, WA Fire Regulations: Propane Storage (2026)

The Shoreline Fire Department and the Planning and Community Development Department administer propane rules through the city's adoption of the International Mechanical Code in SMC § 15.05.010(C). Rather than accepting the Mechanical Code's own liquefied petroleum gas chapter, the city amendment substitutes NFPA 58, Storage and Handling of Liquefied Petroleum Gases, and ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54, the National Fuel Gas Code, as the governing standards for every LP-gas installation in the city, whether a small residential tank feeding a range and water heater or a larger commercial system.

A separate fire code amendment, SMC § 15.05.050(F), makes an LPG or CNG-fueled mobile food preparation vehicle subject to its own fire department operational permit, showing the city treats propane appliances as fire code business, not just a mechanical inspection. The fee schedule attached to Chapter 3.01 SMC prices LPG (propane) tank fire construction permits separately by size and use: a residential tank up to 500 gallons carries a $267.00 permit fee, a commercial tank under 500 gallons is $534.00, and a commercial tank of 500 gallons or more is $801.00.

Because SMC § 15.05.010(C) folds NFPA 58 into the adopted Mechanical Code rather than leaving it as an optional reference standard, a homeowner or contractor installing a bulk propane tank cannot substitute a different industry guideline; NFPA 58's separation distances, tank siting and venting rules control, and Shoreline's fire code officials inspect against that standard before signing off.