Palm Springs, CA Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

510, governs outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, fire rings or similar devices at Group R (residential) occupancies, but carries an express exception: barbeque grills and other portable devices intended solely for cooking are excluded from that section altogether, meaning the clearance and approval rules built for fire pits and fireplaces do not reach an ordinary backyard grill. 1, Gas-Fueled Devices, takes over: the device must be approved by the Building Department, must be designed to burn only a gas flame and not wood or solid fuel, and must keep combustible construction and vegetation at least three feet from the atmospheric column above the device at R-3 (single-family) occupancies, ten feet at other R occupancies.

A Building Department-approved hood and vent lets combustible construction encroach on that clearance column between the hood's bottom and the vent opening, and any installed chimney or vent needs a spark arrester meeting Fire Code Section 202. 6 entirely, a homeowner or condo association enforcing balcony or patio grill placement is applying its own lease, CC&Rs or the general California Fire Code hazardous-materials provisions for LP-gas cylinders, not a Palm Springs-specific setback.