Charcoal safety in Australia: fire bans, balconies and ash

Burning charcoal produces carbon monoxide. It has no smell, no colour and no taste, and by the time someone feels unwell they are often already too affected to act.

NSW Health puts it plainly in its carbon monoxide advice: never use barbecues or outdoor heaters inside, because they produce carbon monoxide gas which can kill without warning. Their guidance is that barbecues, grills and outdoor gas heaters are for outdoor use only and should not be brought into the home.

In practice, that rules out all of the following, and the last two are where people are caught out:

• Indoors, in any room, under any circumstances.
• In a garage or shed, including with the door open.
• In a tent, annexe or camper trailer awning.
• On an enclosed or heavily covered balcony where air does not move freely.

The danger is also not over when the cooking is. Coals continue producing carbon monoxide while they are still warm, so never bring a used grill inside to cool down.

This is the one that surprises people, because gas barbecues are often still permitted while charcoal ones are not.

On a declared Total Fire Ban day, solid fuel barbecues, meaning charcoal, wood, briquettes and heat beads, cannot be used in the open. That is the position of the NSW Rural Fire Service, the CFA in Victoria, the Country Fire Service in South Australia, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services in Western Australia, with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services applying the same principle. Only gas or electric appliances are permitted, and only under specific conditions.

The NSW conditions are a useful illustration of how tight those conditions are. A gas or electric barbecue may be used on a residential property within 20 metres of the house, kept under the continuous supervision of a responsible adult, with a clearance of at least two metres and an immediate and continuous supply of water on hand.

Outside a total fire ban, fire danger season restrictions may still apply and are usually stricter for solid fuel than for gas.

There is no single national law that permits or bans charcoal barbecues on balconies. What governs it in almost every case is your strata scheme or body corporate by-laws, made under state strata legislation.

A great many schemes restrict barbecues on balconies, and a common pattern is to permit gas and electric while prohibiting charcoal and other solid fuel outright. Fire risk, smoke drift into neighbouring apartments and insurance are the usual reasons, and buildings with combustible cladding tend to have the tightest rules of all.

So before buying a charcoal grill for an apartment, read your by-laws. If they prohibit solid fuel, that is the answer, and no amount of care changes it. Add to that the carbon monoxide problem on any balcony that is enclosed or substantially covered, and a charcoal grill is frequently the wrong purchase for an apartment.

Charcoal ash holds usable heat for far longer than people expect, and embers can survive buried in it for days. Ash tipped into a wheelie bin the same evening is a recognised cause of bin and garage fires, and councils around the country publish warnings about exactly this.

The safe sequence:

1. Let the grill cool completely, which usually means overnight rather than an hour.
2. Transfer ash to a metal container with a metal lid. Not plastic, not cardboard, not a paper bag.
3. Stand that container on a non-combustible surface, away from the house, the fence, the deck and anything that will burn.
4. Douse thoroughly with water if you want to dispose of it sooner.
5. Only put it in a household bin once it is completely cold all the way through, and check your council’s guidance, since some ask for ash to be handled differently.

• Outdoors, on a level, stable, non-combustible surface, clear of fences, eaves, overhanging branches and anything else that will catch.
• Never start or revive a fire with petrol, methylated spirits or any flammable liquid. Use a chimney starter or firelighters.
• Keep children and pets well clear. The outside of a charcoal grill gets hot enough to cause a serious burn, and stays that way long after cooking stops.
• Do not leave it unattended while it is alight.
• Keep water or an extinguisher within reach.