Do you and your family sleep with your bedroom doors closed? If you answered yes, that could be a lifesaving decision if a fire were to occur in your home. Once a fire develops inside a house, smoke and fire spreads rapidly, as it finds more fuel and air to keep the combustion process going. The ability of even hollow core interior doors to hold fire out of a room in amazing. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has recently launched a “Close Your Door” fire safety campaign after conducting research into how fires develop and spread within the built environment.
In 2003, we realized the protection value that a closed door provides after a residential structure fire in Pine. These pictures are taken from the hallway outside the bedrooms in the home. You can see the complete destruction the fire caused as it started in one bedroom and spread across the hall into another bedroom. The picture of the undisturbed room was in the middle of that same hall. This series of pictures has been used as part adult fire safety presentations delivered to various community organizations, and has always resulted in looks of amazement.