Do you close your door at night before going to sleep? If you don’t, hopefully this will change that. We all remember learning the “Stop, Drop and Roll” mantra as kids when we would visit the local firehouse or the firefighters would come to our schools. We learned to stay low in the event of a house fire, have an escape plan and a safe meeting place once outside. While those things are still taught, the adage “Close Before You Doze” has been added to the other important things to remember about fire safety.
Close Your Door Fire Safety
Research shows that a closed bedroom door in the event of a fire can protect those inside the room by reducing heat, smoke, harmful gases and flames. Having a bedroom door closed can protect what’s inside even when temperatures reach 1,000 degrees in a fire, keeping the room around 100 degrees. Add to that the fact that it reduces the carbon monoxide levels in that room by approximately 99% compared to the fire room. This allows for increased oxygen, survivability and escape times in the closed room. Closing doors to bedrooms and other rooms also limits the amount of oxygen available for the fires growth.
As parents of small children, sometimes keeping bedroom doors closed at night can be a hard thing to practice. Whether it’s our children being afraid to have the door closed all the way or us wanting to hear them if they call for us or fall out of bed, it can be a struggle. But the evidence definitely makes a clear cut case for closing the doors.
Discuss the benefits of closing the doors with your children. Let them know it’s for their and your safety. Maybe get the old baby monitor back out of the closet if it makes you feel better. Either way, look at the research and make it happen in your house.
Also, if you haven’t taken the time to make a home fire escape plan for your family, take some time to look over these tips, discuss the options with your family and make a plan today.
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