Amarillo, TX Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

4 to the 2021 International Fire Code, adopted by the City in Sec. 10-2-16, reaches 'open-flame cooking devices, heating, outdoor fireplaces, and other similar devices used for any purpose,' language broad enough to cover charcoal grills, wood pellet or offset smokers, patio heaters, and chimineas alongside purpose-built outdoor fireplaces. Two locational limits apply. First, none of those devices can be located or used on a combustible balcony or deck, a rule aimed squarely at apartment and multi-family buildings where a grill or smoker on a wood-framed balcony puts the whole structure at risk.

Second, wherever the device sits, it has to stay at least 10 feet, 3,048 millimeters under the code's metric conversion, from combustible construction, whether that's a wood-sided house, a fence, or an overhanging eave. The amendment doesn't carve out an exception for occasional or supervised use; the 10-foot clearance and balcony ban apply every time the device is lit. This provision is distinct from Amarillo's separate Mobile Food Unit fire-safety requirements, which set their own 10-foot clearance for compressed-gas cylinders and flammable liquids under Sec.

2, which covers fires not tied to cooking or heating. 4 lives inside the adopted International Fire Code, the Amarillo Fire Marshal, the fire code official named in the amendments at Sec. 10-2-16, is the enforcing authority.