Grilling Safety

Practicing fire safety during grilling is extremely important. As with other types of cooking devices, the leading causes of structure fires involving charcoal-fueled grills are unattended cooking and placing combustibles too close to heat. In structure fires, the items first ignited are most commonly the exterior trim and wall covering, while plants, grass, or brush are the most common items first ignited in outdoor fires.

Safety concerning charcoal grill:

• Never leave cooking unattended.
• Move combustibles away from the grill.
• Store unused coal in cool, dry place, because damp coal can ignite itself.
• Use only charcoal lighter fluid on coals, before coals are lit.

Interestingly enough, the leading cause of fires involving gas-fueled grills isn't unattended cooking. Rather, the leading cause of gas-grill fires is part failure, leaks, or breaks.

Safety concerning gas-fueled grill:

• Make sure bottles are in good condition. Check for rusting and loose connections. You can check for leaks with a soapy water solution, if it bubbles up, then you know that you have a leak.
• Keep grills at least 10 feet away from the structure when grilling.

There have been some recent changes to the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code. Two key changes are:

308.3.1

Open-flame cooking devices. Charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices shall not be operated on combustible balconies or within 10 feet (3048 mm) of combustible construction.

Exceptions:

1. One- and two-family dwellings.
2. Where buildings and decks are protected by an automatic sprinkler system.
   This prohibition is to help avoid the potential for hot embers from falling from the fire box onto the combustible surface such as a wooden deck or balcony. The 10 foot separation is required to lessen the chances of igniting combustible walls, and balcony above, in the event there's a flare-up from starting the cooking fire or from a grease accumulation. The exceptions are in recognition of the occupant's level of control and lack of exposure to others along with the added protection of sprinklers.

308.3.1.1

Liquified-petroleum-gas-fueled cooking devices. LP-gas burners having a LP-gas container with a water capacity greater than 2.5 pounds (1.14 kg) [nominal 1 pound (0.454 kg) LP-gas capacity] shall not be located on combustible balconies or within 10 feet (3048 mm) of combustible construction.

Exception:

1. One- and two-family dwellings.
   This section restricts LP-gas burners to the small tabletop grills. These restrictions are based upon a series of multi-family building fires that provided sufficient justification to establish the restriction.