Many cities restrict apartment barbecues

West Chicago is like many towns when it comes to grilling on the deck of an apartment unit.

It's usually not allowed.

Many places abide by a 2001 International Fire Code that stipulates grills be restricted on balconies, decks and patios of multifamily structures unless there are overhead fire sprinklers or the deck and housing material is noncombustible.

West Chicago goes so far as to send code enforcement officers to warn residents who have grills on apartment decks and some are cited with an ordinance violation if they fail to comply, officials said.

The ordinance is supposed to help prevent what happened Sunday. Investigators believe an illegal charcoal grill sparked a fire at the Main Park Apartments at 801 Burr Oaks Drive that left 107 people homeless.

"We've been to that complex many, many times and given enforcement notices and typically people comply," said Joanne Kalchbrenner, West Chicago's community development director. "And sometimes the grills come back out after a couple of days."

When Naperville cracked down on apartment and condominium grills in 2006, residents fought back. Eventually the city amended its code to allow deck grills as long as an adult was constantly supervising and the deck was outfitted with a proper fire extinguisher.

According to the most recent statistics from the National Fire Protection Association, more than 3,400 structure fires were caused by barbecue grills in 2005. The study doesn't separate structure fires at multifamily dwellings from single-family residences, but U.S. Fire Administration spokesman Tom Olshanski said the stiffer regulations at apartment, condominium and townhouse complexes make sense because of the density of people living there.

"We can see both sides of the argument, but in the end all grilling should be done in an open area away from buildings or underneath eaves," he said. "There's a saying that there are three kinds of people that cause fires - men, women and children."