Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed?

12/18/2019 (Permalink)

The door being closed during this house fire helped extremely reduce the amount of damage that this fire could have caused to this home.

Your nightly routine can (and should) include brushing your teeth, washing your face, and getting into comfy PJ’s, but one step that is frequently missed is closing your bedroom door. Nearly 60% of people sleep with their bedroom doors open, according to the safety science organization UL. That simple choice could mean the difference between life and death in the event of a house fire. Most people sleep with the door open because they mistakenly believe that it is safer, but it is the exact opposite.

After more than a decade of research, it has been found that closing your door can slow fire spreading, reduce toxic smoke level, improve oxygen levels and decrease temperature. All of which increase survival. The temperature in a room during a house fire is significantly different when it comes to open verses closed bedroom doors. It is reported that the temperature of a room with a closed-door during a house fire is around 100 degrees, while if the door is left open during a house fire, the temperature can quickly climb to around 1000 degrees.

According to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) a house fire occurs somewhere in the United States every 88 seconds. The innovations in home furnishings, layouts, and construction over the last 40 years have reduced the average time to escape a home fire from 17 minutes to three minutes or less.

Check out this video from the National Fire Protection Association and watch how important closed doors are while you are sleeping.

#closebeforeyoudose