AI-assisted research summary: A municipality’s governing body may adopt fire-safety rules, restrictions, and enforcement measures, and it may not authorize regulations that violate Section 229.001 or confiscate packaged, unopened fireworks.
Sec. 342.003. FIRE REGULATIONS. (a) The governing body of the municipality may: (1) prohibit dangerous chimneys, flues, fireplaces, stovepipes, ovens, and other apparatus used in or about any building, and require the apparatus to be removed or placed in a safe condition; (2) prohibit the unsafe deposit of ashes; (3) appoint officers who may enter any building or enclosure to examine and determine whether it is in a dangerous condition and, if the building or enclosure is in a dangerous condition, require that it be put in a safe condition; (4) require the inhabitant of a building to maintain as many fire buckets and means of access to the roof as prescribed by the governing body, and regulate the use of those items in the event of a fire; (5) require the owner or occupant of a building to maintain access to the roof and to stairs or ladders that lead to the roof; (6) prohibit or otherwise regulate factories and other works that pose a danger of promoting or causing fires; (7) prohibit or otherwise regulate the erection of cotton presses and sheds; (8) prohibit or otherwise regulate the use of fireworks; (9) prohibit, direct, or otherwise regulate the keeping and management of buildings within the municipality that are used to store gunpowder or other combustible, explosive, or dangerous materials, and regulate the keeping and conveying of those materials; (10) regulate the building of parapet or party walls; (11) authorize the mayor or other municipal officers, including the officers of fire companies, to keep away from the vicinity of any fire all idle, disorderly, or suspicious persons, and to arrest and confine those persons; (12) compel municipal officers and all other persons to aid in extinguishing fires, preserving property exposed to the danger of fire, and preventing theft; and (13) adopt other rules for the prevention and extinguishment of fires as the governing body considers necessary. (b) Subsection (a)(9) does not authorize a municipality to adopt any prohibition or other regulation in violation of Section 229.001. (c) Subsection (a)(8) does not authorize a municipality to confiscate packaged, unopened fireworks. Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987. Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1, Sec. 87(t), eff. Aug. 28, 1989; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 12.002(10), eff. Sept. 1, 2001. Amended by: Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 957 (H.B. 1813), Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 2013. Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 238 (S.B. 2284), Sec. 9, eff. September 1, 2025.