Gaithersburg, MD Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

Chapter 11 adopts NFPA 1, the 2024 Fire Code, but Section 11-13 rewrites several of its outdoor-cooking provisions specifically for Gaithersburg. 1, the open-flame cooking device rule, extending its one- and two-family dwelling exception to also cover townhouses and row houses where units are separated by fire walls and none sit stacked above another, and it replaces the base code's 10-foot clearance with a distance-based standard: 20 feet from any multi-family structure or 15 feet from any other structure. In practice that puts most propane and charcoal grills used on an apartment or condominium balcony out of compliance unless the grill is kept well back from the building, since balconies sit directly against the structure they are attached to.

4, prohibiting the use of charcoal-fired stoves or grills inside buildings, trailers, and other confined areas altogether, unless the appliance has an approved system that vents combustion gases directly outside. These are amendments made by the City of Gaithersburg to the state-adopted NFPA 1 fire code rather than provisions of the underlying model code itself; the base NFPA 1 language, before Gaithersburg's changes, allowed a shorter 10-foot clearance and did not carry the confined-space charcoal ban. The fire code is administered by the City Fire Marshal, who under other amendments in the same section can also require a greater separation distance where a higher hazard to an adjoining property exists.