New Berlin, WI Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

Section 124-12 Q targets cooking equipment risk at apartment buildings, condos and other occupancies that aren't one- or two-family homes. Subsection Q(1) bars using or kindling a hibachi, grill, kettle or similar device, for cooking, heating or any other purpose, on a balcony, under any overhanging portion of a building, or within ten feet (three meters) of any structure. Subsection Q(2) goes further on storage: the same devices can never be stored on a balcony at those properties, even unlit and unused, closing off the workaround of keeping a grill parked there between uses.

The rule sits inside Chapter 124's broader open-flame and cooking-equipment provisions, which the Fire Chief and the Fire Prevention and Inspection Bureau enforce through the inspection authority granted in Section 124-5, covering all buildings and premises except the interior of private dwellings. Because the section applies only to occupancies 'other than one- and two-family dwellings,' a homeowner grilling on a single-family house's own deck or patio isn't covered by the ten-foot setback or the balcony storage ban; that exemption tracks the same one- and two-family carve-out that limits the rest of Chapter 124's scope under Section 124-1.

Property managers at apartment and condo buildings are the ones most exposed to enforcement, since the rule reaches both the balcony storage of a grill and its use anywhere within the ten-foot structure buffer.