Ames, IA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Ames Municipal Code Sec. 8.202(3) rewrites Section 308.1.4 of the adopted International Fire Code, the section governing open-flame cooking devices, and replaces it with the city's own text: charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices shall not be operated or located on combustible balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction. The rule targets multi-family buildings such as apartment complexes near Campustown and Iowa State University housing, where a charcoal grill on a wood balcony sits close to neighboring units. The ordinance carves out two exceptions: devices are permitted in one- and two-family dwellings, and they are permitted anywhere buildings, balconies and decks are protected by an automatic sprinkler system, tying this rule directly to the sprinkler retrofit standards in Sec.

8.301. Outside those exceptions, a propane or electric grill used on an unprotected combustible balcony in a multi-family building, or within 10 feet of the building's combustible siding, does not comply. The amendment sits in Division II of Chapter 8, Fire Code, alongside the recreational fire-pit rule in Sec. 8.202(2) and the underground and above-ground flammable liquid storage restrictions in Sec. 8.202(12) and (13), all enforced by the Ames Fire Department and the fire chief's designees. A violation is charged as a Chapter 8 municipal infraction under Sec. 8.601.