Contra Costa County, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

2 of the California Fire Code, adopted under Ordinance No. 2025-14, bars charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices from combustible balconies and from operating within 10 feet of combustible construction across unincorporated territory served by the Contra Costa County and Crockett-Carquinez Fire Protection Districts. The section sits in Chapter 41, Temporary Heating and Cooking Operations, and targets charcoal grills, wood-fired smokers, and similar open-flame equipment. Three exceptions narrow the rule considerably: it does not apply at all to residential occupancies (Group R, covering houses and apartments), it does not apply where the balcony, deck, or building is protected by an automatic sprinkler system, and it does not apply to small LP-gas cooking devices whose propane container holds 2 1/2 pounds of water capacity or less, roughly the size used on a portable camp grill.

In practice the 10-foot clearance and balcony ban land hardest on non-residential and unsprinklered commercial buildings, restaurants, and multi-tenant structures with wood decks, not on single-family backyards or apartment patios. The fire code official inspects for compliance during routine occupancy inspections and can order a noncompliant grill or smoker removed from a combustible balcony before it becomes a shared life-safety hazard.