Backyard barbecuing with charcoal or propane grills is allowed in Madison at single-family homes. Cooking fires are an accepted exception to the open-burning ban. Under the adopted fire code, grills and larger LP-gas cylinders face clearance limits, mainly on combustible balconies of multifamily buildings.
Madison permits fires used for cooking as an exception to its general open-burning prohibition, and residential charcoal and propane grilling at detached homes is routine and lawful. The City enforces the International Fire Code, which restricts open-flame cooking devices and larger LP-gas containers on combustible balconies and near combustible construction, with the standard exception for one- and two-family dwellings. Keep grills a safe distance from structures and combustibles, cool charcoal fully with water before disposal, and store spent ashes in a non-combustible container. Once cooking is finished, the fire should be extinguished; a sustained fire that is not for cooking may be treated as prohibited open burning.
A 'cooking' fire kept burning without food preparation can be extinguished and cited as illegal open burning; balcony grill violations are enforced under the fire code.
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