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Thank you for posting this video. I had no idea about this dramatic difference between having a closed door and an open door.

Good information! I found some of the other videos they produce very educational also.

Thank you for posting this important information.

It reminded me of the long thread on FlyerTalk about surviving a hotel fire:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/289078-how-survive-hotel-fire.html

@Denita You're welcome! I had NO idea either! Wow was all I could say. I am definitely going to start closing doors at bedtime.

@Mark Bischak, Architect I am very glad my friend shared this with me and all of the info they have available!

@User You're welcome! Thank you for sharing the hotel fire safety! My husband has to travel for work 4-6 times a year and sometimes overseas. One time in England, as he was changing for dinner in his room, the hotel restaurant kitchen caught fire! Thankfully the massive evacuation went smoothly, the fire didn't spread, and only a few minor burns and smoke inhalation for the workers. I'm also grateful my husband remembered to make a wet towel to take with him and didn't need it!

Plus side of all that: free drinks at the hotel pub and a large credit for room service.

Yes, very dramatic and scary. I have a couple of questions.

1. Were those fire doors on the bedrooms?

2. What do you do if your children, especially babies or toddlers are in their rooms with the doors closed, and you are in yours? How do you get them to safety? Older children can be taught how to escape through windows and ladders (we had fire drills when our children were young), but what about the really little ones?

I’ve always naturally slept with the doors closed, but of course it’s not all that helpful if you’re sleeping in the room where the fire starts.

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC

1. I don't know what kind of doors were used in the demonstration, but everything I've read this afternoon states that any kind of closed door helps.

The front and back of a non-fire rated hollow core door:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fire-department-issues-two-pictures-as-a-warning-to-parents-over-doors_2793402.html

2. We had fire safety week last month and preformed our fire drill every night (a few neighbors got to see us all in our pjs). We taught our 3 & 6 yr old that if they smell smoke or hear the alarms: stay in bed, do not move, do not hide, we will come get you.

It's easy with the 3 yr old since she sleeps in a toddler bed in our room, but the 6 yr old is 40' away on the other end of our house. We told him we'll either come through the door or the window. We have two large rocks behind the bushes under his window and ours to help bust through from the outside.

@nidnay

I’ve always naturally slept with the doors closed, but of course it’s not all that helpful if you’re sleeping in the room where the fire starts.

We don't. Having to rely heavily on AC, we were taught to keep doors open for circulation with central air. It was different when I was little, and we had window units. We had to leave doors closed or else.

If the fire starts in your room, prayerfully your detectors will warn you in time, and upon escaping, you should re-close your door to hinder the fueling and spreading of the fire.

I can't bear closed doors. But my smoke alarms shriek to wake the dead from a grave. Even a small puff of smoke from a grilled burger will set one off. ..............

Every room must have one, and every few months you check that they WORK.

Having young children, I don't think we will start closing our door, but I'm definitely closing theirs.

If we lived in an apartment/condo/high rise/shared unit, I would change my habit/personal preference immediately and close our door.

I am going to make it a habit of keeping the laundry room door closed. I usually try. Since I set a timer to go back and forth, I don't have to rely on hearing the machines and the buzzer is plenty loud.

In the articles I've been reading, many have mentioned how closed doors have saved property and leaves the room practically untouched once the firefighters have extinguished the flames. One sad story especially: the family died of smoke inhalation, but the family dog was shut in the laundry and survived.

Whenever someone has suggested using fire resistance rated gypsum wall board in their new house to increase safety I have always told them that fire would spread to other rooms through open doors long before it could penetrate a separation wall. If you can't bear to close the bedroom door at night, at least close doors when a detector alarms and when you travel.

But this precaution is more for reducing potential fire damage to your house; your smoke alarms should alert you to the need to evacuate before a fire can spread far.

You should not put a smoke detector in every room. they would constantly be alarming in a bathroom or a kitchen. Put at least one per floor, at the top and bottom of each flight of stairs and in bedrooms and halls outside of bedrooms. A garage should only have a heat detector. But in a new house the fire department should approve the detector locations before a permit is issued.

Detectors should alert you to a malfunction. If you doubt their ability to do that, I suppose you could install them in pairs from different manufacturers. Pull the cover off and take a cell phone photo of the different alarms before one occurs in the middle of the night. Do it today.

Since this is a forum for new houses, the detectors should be hard wired together so they will all alarm when one detects smoke and they will have a battery backup. For house renovations many jurisdictions require hardwired detectors for the whole house if a bedroom is added.

I had no idea that open doors was a "thing". When rooms are occupied, our doors are closed day and night. Even when we weren't a couple.

Iroquois longhouse. No doors to close.

We don't live in an indigenous longhouse. (Still debating whether sprinklers are worth the investment for resale.)

Thank you CD7733 for that video. That answers the question--those were hollow core doors. Amazing that something like that can have such a positive effect!

Chispa, I read that article, too; I think it was on BBC's website. A recording of the mother's voice (presumably, the father's voice would work, too, but for consistency in the study, I can see why they picked just one parent) was more successful in waking children than the wake-the-dead-alarm.

I'm like Miss Jan... I keep my door open, so that I have a better chance of hearing what's going on in the rest of the house. I'm already a heavy sleeper, so if all of our doors were closed, I'd be completely oblivious to any problems the older children would have. :-(

This has me conflicted. :-( I'm appreciative of the information, for sure. I'm just conflicted about the statistically small risk of fire (but with the worst consequence), and the greater risk of a kiddo needing me in the middle of the night.

Dang. Maybe I need one of those Iroquois houses. Sigh.

We keep our doors closed and locked while sleeping - because kids, lol.

You might be surprised, O.D.D. - it's amazing how I can sleep through the strongest of thunderstorms but even the quietest, feather-weight knock from one of the kids on our bedroom door wakes me from even the deepest sleep.

You might be surprised, O.D.D. - it's amazing how I can sleep through the strongest of thunderstorms but even the quietest, feather-weight knock from one of the kids on our bedroom door wakes me from even the deepest sleep.

I wish this was me!!! I've been a parent for nearly 14 years now -- and have birthed 6 littles in that time -- and I can STILL sleep through trains, dogs barking, gunshots, and probably a tornado. :-O Movement, though, is an entirely different matter. The slightest change in bedding, or a touch, will wake me. But sounds? Forget about it. :-(

The odds that your home will catch fire, at night, while your home and asleep are pretty low. Not that it won't happen. I have been awaken and bolted out of the room by earthquakes many times. Grabbing the kids and getting out of the house is easier with the doors open. The Northridge earthquake was a big one. When I got out of the house, with both kids in my arms, a electrical transformer blew up and lit up the sky. I thought, "we're under attack".......

I worry about this when my granddaughter spends the night. She is only 2, but her room is about 50 ft. away. We keep her door closed and we use an audio/video monitor. But, we keep our bedroom door open. I never can sleep well when she's with us (which is frequently), because I am such a worrier. Love it when she spends the night though :-)

@chispa - so true. Years ago when my daughters were teens, I had to break into my home as I had forgotten my keys. I set the alarm off in the process. Couldn't remember my alarm code and it took a few minutes. Freaking loud. Neither daughter woke up. Had to check on them to make sure they were even ok. Yep, sound asleep both of them. The next morning they had no idea that the alarm had ever gone off.

Thanks for the video regarding hotel fire safety. I am in hotels almost every week for work. Have had 2 times where we had to evacuate due to a fire or smoke. Another time when I had gotten up in the middle of the night, I smelled smoke. Called the front desk and they said "no worries," "just a fire in the laundry room. Stay in your room." The smoke was getting worse, so I got dressed and went to go down the stairs and they were already filled with smoke. Called down again - same assurances. I looked outside and saw 4 firetrucks and a ton of people standing in the parking lot. Guess they had determined to evacuate the first 5 floors, but left the top floors sleeping through the night. Was not a fun night, but thankful all ended well.

@chispa I remember watching that segment a very long time ago!

@One Devoted Dame I can sleep through all of those noises, too, unless it's right outside my window or in the house! Last night, my husband worked late and me and the babies slept together with the door closed. He came home to our fridge fan not working (again). As he was transferring all of our meat and things to the freezer, something slammed and scared the bejeezus out of me!

@wacokid I don't know anything about earthquake safety and can't really comment on what protocol to follow. Only briefly looking and seeing they want you to Drop, Cover, Hold On and not stand in doorways (Texans kids were taught in elementary geography class TO stand in doorways, oops). I live in Houston and have never encountered one. My husband has when he lived outside San Bernardino for 8 years. We both agree that earthquake prone areas are not for us. We can handle hurricanes and tornadoes but not earthquakes.

@Lynda Great idea with the baby monitors. I think I'm going to get one for my little ones. Over the last 6 months, I've gotten better with having my 6 yr old sleep so far away but still worry. He's completely cool sleeping like a big boy in is own room. I'm just a worrier, and now in the new build he'll be even farther! (currently 40', new build door to door 70' walking around furniture)

Guess they had determined to evacuate the first 5 floors, but left the top floors sleeping through the night.

Oh my goodness! That is horrifying, especially since you informed them the smoke had traveled further up!!

I understand that closed doors helps prevent the spread of fire, so keeping the doors closed in unoccupied rooms makes sense to me.

But I feel like you'd smell the smoke faster if your bedroom door is open. Or hear the crackling of the fire easier. If it's closed, the whole house might be an inferno before you even noticed.

This is assuming the smoke detectors don't work. If they are working then they'd wake me up before it would matter whether my door was open or closed and I could close the door if that escape route was already cut off and I had to leave through the window.

I could see it being a good idea for kids though. Ones who might sleep through the alarm or not know what to do if there is a fire and they need someone to come and get them from their room.

Or if you yourself are a heavy sleeper and aren't easily wakened (or is it woken?).

I have always slept with a closed door, as does everyone in my family. Mostly because we are dog trainers and always had dogs and puppies in various stages of training. My kids each had their own dog, DH and I had 2 or 3 in our room. Even once the dogs are at the point we were comfortable leaving doors open we closed them, just habit.

We have always slept with our bedroom door closed and locked even when our kids were little. Kids doors were closed but not locked. When our kids were really little we used a baby monitor. When they were a little older I always heard them if they needed me.

My parents are both quite deaf and wear hearing aids during the day. They actually have a special smoke alarm which has a flashing strobe light and is connected to a device which shakes the bed. The false alarm one night was quite a surprise but it definitely woke them up so the gadget works

When they were a little older I always heard them if they needed me.

<3

I'm so dead to the world when I'm asleep. :-( I have slept through sobbing children *in the same room* who stood there and cried, not waking up until they tugged at the blanket. :-(

Is there a secret to being a light sleeper? Seriously, has anyone successfully changed their sleep-heaviness??? I'm interested, if this is possible.

This is off topic, but every time I see the heading of this discussion I think that it deals with closing something (a door?) before you take your medication :-o

My cousin lost her 3 year old daughter to smoke inhalation - she never had a chance to get out

One of the reasons we built a ranch with all the rooms on one wing on one floor.

I walk by my daughters bedrooms every night and close them.

We've never had kids, so worrying about little ones in the night is not an issue. But we do have a cat who spends part of the night sleeping on the bed with us, part of the night on the window seat in the master bedroom, and part of the night wandering the house "on patrol." He also uses his litter box downstairs during the night. If we closed the bedroom door to keep him inside it with us, there would be a problem when he needed to use his box. And no way would we close the bedroom door to leave him outside of it during the night.