Backyard barbecuing is treated as a recreational/cooking fire under Iowa's open-burning rules, so grilling with propane or charcoal at a single-family home is allowed without a permit. Standard grill propane cylinders need no permit; the fire code restricts LP-gas grills on some multi-unit balconies.
Iowa's 567 IAC 23.2(3)(e) exempts open fires for cooking, so a backyard barbecue at a house needs no burn permit in Polk County. There is no special Polk County ordinance for residential grilling. Propane cylinders for grills (typically twenty pounds) are unregulated for single-family use. The main restriction comes from the adopted fire code, which limits the use and storage of LP-gas and charcoal grills on or under balconies and combustible overhangs of multi-unit residential buildings—an apartment or condo may bar grills on balconies. The AQI-90 no-burn rule targets open burning, not enclosed grills.
Fire-code violations (for example a propane grill on an apartment balcony) are enforced by the fire district, which may order removal; there is no county grilling ordinance penalty for single-family homes.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how West Des Moines's bbq & propane rules rules stack up against other locations.
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