Little-known Ala law bans grills at apartments

[The Straight Story]

Little-known Ala law bans grills at apartments


Colonial Park Apartment residents woke recently to find pink notices at their doors explaining that their grills were illegal and needed to be removed from the premises within five days or they would be disposed of by staff.

It came as a surprise to Michelle Waldrep, who lives in the complex with her family and her parents so she can keep an eye on her dad. Her parents have lived at the complex for 16 or 17 years and two grills are stationed near the door.

"It's crazy," Waldrep said. "A lot of people are going to have something against that 'cause some people don't have any place else to put it."

Be that as it may, the state of Alabama fire code makes it illegal for many apartment dwellers to use a grill, said Anniston Fire Marshal Chief David Randle. The fire code specifies that charcoal grills and other open-flame cooking devices cannot be used on combustible balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction unless the building, balcony or deck has an automated sprinkler system, he said. The only exceptions are one- and two-family dwellings.

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20101201/APN/1012012126?Title=Little-known-Ala-law-bans-grills-at-apartments

[Ezlivin]

1. Time to switch to a hibachi

That'd throw 'em off.

:)

[DainBramaged]

2. Same here and it's in my lease, no open flames of any kind

electric OK, gas uh not OK. But people give the Super the finger and dare him to take their property. Grills everywhere, and not little ones either. And this is a huge complex too.

[virgogal]

3. Seems like a most sensible law to me. Many complexes have that as

a requirement now.

[MissMarple]

4. Many Colorado apartment and condo complexes allow only electric grills.

And in fire season many counties ban outdoor charcoal grilling. We still have apartment fires started by unattended coals. And some people actually set out fireplace ashes in paper bags and cardboard boxes on their wooden decks. We get a lot of fires that way.

But I guess the question here is why now, after 17 years of no enforcement?

[KamaAina]

10. Indeed. The city of San Jose just did this in my complex.

Apparently CA adopted that portion of the fire code three or four years ago. But when I moved in last year, grilling was mentioned, by the agent, as a popular pastime. Then the city came thorugh a couple of months ago. Now all the grills are (or soon will be) gone.

[MrCoffee]

5. I once saw a spectacular balcony fire on the 4th floor caused by a grill

The molten plastic siding was oddly mesmerizing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Keywords: Combustible Balconies

[Rhythm]

7. Charlotte NC has an ordinance to that effect... passed after a fire

A fire which destroyed 6 units in an apartment complex in the mid-90's spurred the Charlotte NC City Council to ban the use of grills of any sort within 10 feet of a single-family home, duplex, or apartment building.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Having lived in apts at one time, I am for banning the grills.

The smell of burning food and charcoal permeates ALL the apts.
Usually if it is nice enough to grill, it is nice enough to want to leave your windows open for air.
That was impossible in my apt.

[ArcticFox]

9. Very sensible

Grills are fire hazards, be they charcoal or propane.

I once had to put out a relatively new grill with a fire extinguisher when the oil drip pan caught on fire.

[htuttle]

11. "No grills on balconies" has been part of the fire code here in Madison for a long time

There were too many college apartment fires.

[spanone]

12. good idea. they ought to make it obvious to anyone signing a lease.

[surrealAmerican]

13. Just because they've been lucky so far ...

... does not mean it's safe.

It's sad that so many people would not think twice about using a grill on a wooden balcony.

[mrmpa]

14. No problem with this at all

I live on the 4th floor of a condo. Township does not permit gas or charcoal grills. I've got a nice Foreman grill, about the size of a round charcoal grill. It's safe and works well.

[Scruffy1]

15. Having been a fireman-good law

[Mimosa]

16. It's a good law.

After Katrina my partner and I moved to Atlanta. ( We'd owned a home in NOLA for 18 years.)

At least twice a week after we'd moved here to ATL we saw reports about apartment fires ignited by grills at apt. complexes. We were living in one which had a wooden balcony. The weirdos above us dropped ashes (from crack, I guess) onto our balcony furniture.

Apartments are indeed fire prone.

George Foreman grills are pretty good. ;)

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Funny apartment grill story: I once lived above a couple of 20yr old stoners

nice kids, guy and his girlfriend. They had a fish tank with this big, ugly-ass fish in it- an "oscar", they called it. I'm not sure if that was actually the breed, or not, I know there is such a thing- but whatever this thing was, it didn't look well. It had some kind of serious skin condition, as far as I could tell. And it was old.

So one day I come home from work, open my front door, and my apartment is full of the most acrid, rancid fucking smoke I've ever smelled, and I've smelled some bad shit. This place was poorly ventilated as it was, and I had left the back windows open with all the other ones closed- shitty neighborhood, and all, I figured no one was going to break in to the 2nd story window that didn't have a balcony. But this window opened up right over their back porch, and that was where this smoke was coming from. I look out the window and their barbecue is out in the back yard, smoking away. Right under my window. I'm thinking maybe they put a steak on, and forgot about it? But this doesn't smell like any burnt steak I've ever smelled.

I go downstairs and knock on their door- repeatedly- but no one is there. And I can't fucking breathe in my place. I don't know what to do, I mean, I can't stay in this place with this horrible smoke pouring in and there's no good way to air out the place without cross-flow; which means, the back windows... finally, in desperation, I take a bucket of water and dump it out the window onto the barbecue. I feel sort of bad; I don't want to fuck up... well, whatever it is they're trying to do down there, but they're not coming to the door.

Long story short, fire goes out, I air the place out, still stinks for a while and I'm left going "what the fuck?" I think maybe I left a note on their door, "sorry I had to drown your barbecue but..."

Until a few days later, I finally saw the guy. And he started cracking up. Apparently the fish had died, and when he tried to flush it down the toilet, it was too big. So in his infinite stoner wisdom, he decided to give it a viking send-off with a full cremation. This nasty fucking fish with the skin condition. Then he left, probably because he didn't want to smell it.

Ah, those were the days.:rofl:

[DawgHouse]

18. I've lived in two apt complexes in my past and there was a "no grill" rule at both places.

They did have some pretty nice grills down around the pool area if you wanted to use them for parties or something like that, though.

[tammywammy]

19. No grilling within 10 feet has been the rule at every apartment I ever lived in.

But you could have your grill closer to the building, you just couldn't use it there. My friends lived on the second floor and would keep theirs down on the ground (but out of the way) and drag it away from the building when we grilled out. Makes sense, I mean in a single dwelling, like my house, if I catch it on fire grilling I only screw over myself. If I catch an apartment building on fire, it could hurt more people and cause a lot more damage potentially.