Ramapo, NY Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

Section 144-22, part of Chapter 144's Article IV general fire safety requirements, targets the fire risk that open-flame cooking and stored fuel cylinders create around apartment buildings and other multiple dwellings. The rule sets a flat 10-foot buffer: no grill, barbecue or other device that burns propane or produces an open flame can be used for cooking within 10 feet of any building classified as a multiple dwelling, regardless of whether the device sits on a balcony, patio, breezeway or ground-level common area. The section separately bans storing propane tanks or any other fuel used to run these devices inside any building at all, closing off the common workaround of keeping a spare cylinder in a hallway, storage closet or apartment unit.

Because the rule sits within Chapter 144's general fire safety article, it is enforced by the same Bureau of Fire Prevention personnel who administer exit, key box and fire lane requirements elsewhere in the chapter: the Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, the Chief Fire Inspector, and Assistant or Deputy Fire Inspectors. A property owner or management company that allows tenants to grill closer than 10 feet from the building, or that permits fuel storage indoors, bears responsibility for the violation alongside the tenant actually operating the device.