Mountain View, CA Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

City Code Sec. 14.24.05 amends California Fire Code Subsection 4104.2 to bar charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices, including wood and pellet grills as well as charcoal kettles, from combustible balconies or decks, and from operating within 10 feet of combustible construction or other combustible hazards. The rule targets Mountain View's dense apartment and condo stock along El Camino Real and North Bayshore, where a balcony fire can spread unit to unit through shared wood-framed construction.

Three exceptions apply. One- and two-family dwellings are exempt outright, so a detached house or duplex owner can grill with charcoal on a wood deck. Buildings, balconies, and decks protected throughout by an automatic sprinkler system are also exempt, though that exception does not extend to commercial cooking equipment unless the fire code official separately approves it. And small liquid-propane cooking devices are allowed on a balcony if the LP-gas container holds no more than 2½ pounds of water capacity, roughly the nominal 1-pound disposable propane cylinders used on compact tabletop grills, not a standard 20-pound tank.

The ordinance sits in Division 11 of Chapter 14, the city's local amendments to the 2025 California Fire Code. Enforcement runs through the fire code official under Fire Code Sec. 113.4, also locally amended: violating any Fire Code provision, including this one, is a misdemeanor punishable under the City Charter, and each day a violation continues after notice constitutes a separate offense. Property managers who let tenants keep charcoal grills on wood balconies risk a citation and liability if a fire spreads. Renters should confirm any grill runs on a small 1-pound propane canister or cook more than 10 feet from the building.