State cools on apartment grill ban

COLUMBUS - Apartment tenants with balconies and patios will get to grill out after all.

The state fire marshal's office announced Wednesday that it plans to turn the heat down on a regulation that would have banned any type of grill from apartment balconies and patios.

The ban was to begin Thursday, but concerns and complaints ignited and state officials decided they would not immediately enforce the ban.



"At this point in time, it's under review," said Ray Nance, public information officer with the state fire marshal's office in Lincoln.

The regulation did not have to get approved by the state legislature, but did have to get signed approval from Gov. Mike Johanns, Nance said.

Terri Teuber, spokeswoman for Johanns, said the state fire marshal's office consulted with the state's policy staff on the decision not to ban grills from apartments.

Sharon Hladky, Westbrook Apartments manager, said Wednesday that she was unaware of the ban, and it was going to cause a lot of anger among her Columbus tenants. On Thursday, Hladky said she was happy with the decision to put the issue on the back-burner.

"This is good," she said. "I'm glad they have to reassess things. It would have turned out to be a huge issue."

Other landlords and managers throughout the city said they were caught off-guard, not knowing any details about the regulation.

"I think if you're a private owner, if you want to have grills on your balcony, you should be able to have grills," Northside Square Apartments manager Jan Tilley said.

Nance said the guideline is an old regulation that has been set in many other states. The state fire marshal was looking to update the code book to keep on the same page with the National Fire Protection Association, which suggested the guideline.

"There were a lot of people that were not aware of it," Nance said. "We want to make sure we do this properly."

Nance said he was uncertain about when the issue would be discussed and a final regulation would be in place.

"The key thing is we're not going to go knock down doors and look for grills in apartments and write citations," he said.

According to Columbus Fire Chief Dean Hefti, the city has only had to deal with a couple of small apartment-grill related fires in the last two years.

Hladky said she has never had any apartment grill-related fires since becoming manager at Westbrook four years ago. She added the ban would have affected all but 12 apartments at the complex.

Some apartment complexes around town already have rules set on the use of grills.

Tilley said only propane grills are allowed at North Square and Hladky said rules at Westbrook state grills have to be a certain distance from the building walls.

According to the state fire marshal's office, the NFPA has had regulations set since at least 1997 that banned charcoal grills and gas grills holding more than a pound of propane from apartment balconies.