Sterling Heights, MI Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

11 of the Fire Prevention Code, added by City Code § 20-23 as a local amendment to the 2024 International Fire Code, states plainly: Charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices shall not be operated or stored on combustible balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction. The section carries two exceptions: one- and two-family dwellings, and any building, balcony, or deck protected by an automatic sprinkler system. That means a resident in a Sterling Heights single-family home can run a charcoal grill on a wood balcony, but a tenant in an unsprinklered apartment or condo building cannot.

2(A) allows commercially-built barbecues and smokers, when cooking food for human consumption using only charcoal briquettes, LP-gas, pellets, or natural gas for fuel, without a permit or advance notice to the fire code official, as long as the device is constantly attended, so a backyard propane grill at ground level away from a structure is unrestricted. 1, covering multi-family dwellings specifically, goes further and bars lighted matches, hookah devices, chimeneas, candles, lit fireworks, or any other type of open or exposed flame within 10 feet of a combustible balcony, patio, landscaped area, or porch of a multi-family unit, with any burnt remnants required to be discarded immediately by an approved method. The Fire Marshal and Fire Department enforce these sections as part of the Fire Prevention Code adopted under City Code Chapter 20, § 20-23.