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

Division 9 of Chapter 13, added by Ord. No. 80-774 on February 26, 2019, exists, per Sec. 13-101, because open-flame cooking devices used inside enclosed or partially enclosed accessory structures may start fires, cause explosions, or otherwise inflict physical injury or property damage. Sec. 13-102 defines an open-flame cooking device broadly as any device that uses an open flame to prepare or cook food, including but not limited to charcoal and propane burners and grills, and defines residential garage to include both attached and freestanding structures built to store vehicles.

Sec. 13-103 then bars using any such device inside a residential garage or other enclosed or partially enclosed accessory structure. Sec. 13-104 carves out a narrow exception: a structure specifically intended for open-flame cooking that has obtained all required city permits and permissions is exempt from the ban. Unlike the balcony clearance rule in Sec. 13-56 and Sec. 13-57, which only restricts placement near combustible surfaces, Division 9 is a flat prohibition on use inside any enclosed space, with no exemption for one- and two-family homeowners; a homeowner who wheels a propane grill into an attached garage to cook during bad weather is violating the ordinance just as a renter would be.

Sec. 13-105 sets its own penalty, separate from the citywide default, making this one of the few fire-code sections in Chapter 13 with its own stated punishment.