Every year, cooking fires are one of the top causes of residential fires.

• Never walk away from an active stove top.
• Make sure you set a timer to alert you when food is done. Consider setting an alarm on your cell phone or smart watch, smart speaker or display too.
• If a grease fire starts in a pan:
  
  • Always slide a lid or baking sheet over the pan to smother the flames and turn the burner off.
  • Never use water to extinguish a grease fire, and never move a flaming pan to a sink. Water expands rapidly when it converts to steam and can create a fireball, resulting in serious burns 
• If there's a fire in a microwave or oven, keep the door closed and turn the appliance off. This limits the supply of oxygen that fire needs to burn, and helps contain the fire.

Improper disposal of hot embers, ashes and other smoking materials cause numerous fires in Minnetonka. Most of these types of fires occur along roadways, in landscaping, on decks or balconies and in trash cans and dumpsters . These types of fires are entirely preventable.

Cigarettes and smoking material safety 

• Never throw a lit cigarette on the ground.
• Always use a non-combustible ashtray when smoking. Ensure the ashes and butts are fully extinguished before disposing them.
• Never use a container with potting soil as an ashtray. Potting soil contains peat moss and other organic additives that can ignite when dry.
• Never smoke in bed or while sitting on furniture.

Recreational fire ash disposal

Ashes from recreational fires must cool for several days before disposal. Embers can be insulated by ash and smolder for several days.

• If you are in a hurry to dispose ashes, shovel them into an empty metal container and soak them with water. Never put fresh ashes into plastic or paper bags or into the trash.
• Most trash bins are plastic, and have posted warnings prohibiting the disposal of hot ash.

City ordinance only regulates the use and storage of grills and smokers at institutional, apartment and condominium buildings. Townhomes are not regulated by city ordinance, so townhome associations must determine and enforce their own rules. These are a summary of the rules. Please refer to City Code for a complete description.

• Open flames are prohibited in any apartment or condominium that is two or more stories tall. Residents may not start or maintain a fire of any kind on a balcony above ground lever or on a ground patio within 15 feet of the building.
• Fuel storage is prohibited and grills are limited to the following types and regulations. 
  • Electric grills are allowed on balconies provided they maintain an 18 inch clearance from all combustibles and are plugged into a GFI outlet
  • Natural gas grills are allowed on balconies if they are permanently mounted and plumbed tot he building's natural gas supply. These grills must maintain an 18 inch clearance from all combustibles. 
  • Propane gas grills are only allowed on ground level. Propane cylinder storage is prohibited within 15 feet of the building. 
  • Charcoal grills and smokers are allowed only on the ground level and may not be used or stored within 15 feet of the building. 
• Apartment owners or condominium associations may impose regulations more restrictive than those listed above, but responsibility falls on the association or owner to enforce those rules.

What fireworks are legal?

Examples of fireworks that are legal to sell, possess and use by the public on or after April 31, 2002, as permitted by Minnesota Statute 624.20(C) include the following:

• Wire or wood sparklers of not more than 100 grams of mixture per item.
• Other sparkling items which are nonexplosive and nonaerial and contain 75 grams or less of chemical mixture per tube or a total of 200 grams or less for multiple tubes, such as:
• Cylindrical fountain: Upon ignition, a shower of colored sparks or smoke and sometimes a whistling effect is produced.
• Cone fountain: The effect is the same as that of a cylindrical fountain. When more than one cone is mounted on a common base, total pyrotechnic composition may not exceed 200 grams.
• Illuminating torch
• Wheel: Pyrotechnic device intended to be attached to a post or tree by means of a nail or string. Upon ignition, the wheel revolves, producing a shower of color and sparks and, sometimes, a whistling effect.
• Ground spinner: Small device venting out an orifice usually on the side of the tube. Similar in operation to a wheel but intended to be placed flat on the ground and ignited. The rapidly spinning device produces a shower of sparks and color.
• Flitter sparkler: Narrow paper tube attached to a stick or wire that produces color and sparks upon ignition. The paper at one end of the tube is ignited to make the device function.
• Flash/Strobe: Emit a bright light.
• Novelty items such as snakes and glow worms, smoke devices or trick noisemakers which include paper streamers, party poppers, string poppers, snappers and drop pops, each consisting of not more than twenty-five hundredths grains of explosive mixture.

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What fireworks are illegal?

Examples of fireworks that continue to be illegal to sell, possess and use, except as permitted under Minnesota Statute 624.20, include the following:

• Any fireworks that are explosive and/or aerial.
• Chinese style lanterns
• Firecrackers (any size), lady fingers, sky rockets, bottle rockets and missile-type rockets.
• Helicopters, aerial spinners, planes, UFOs
• Roman candles
• Mines or shells (heavy cardboard or paper tube attached to a base – upon ignition stars, balls or reports are propelled into the air)
• Chasers
• Parachutes
• 1.3G Display (special or class B) fireworks
• Aerial shells
• Theatrical pyrotechnics (see Minn. Stat. 624.20 to 624.25)