When I was a kid my house caught on fire while we were away (Mom left a steamer on accidentally ) and all of the rooms upstairs looked like the one on the right in OPs post except mine because I had my door closed. There was some minor smoke damage to some of my stuff but for the most part it was ok. The fire department was actively putting the fire out when my Mom came home from the store.
I actually just spoke with a firefighter recently who was New York fire for 30 years. He said back then everyone was taught to leave all the doors open so it’s easier to escape which was wrong.
He said the best thing to do is close doors behind you as you clear each room when escaping a fire with family/pets as it contains the fire outside. He told me he responded to plenty of fires with death where people would leave their bedroom door open, open the window to jump out which then proceeded to feed the fire oxygen and burned the people alive.
So now I leave every single door closed and I keep a fire extinguisher by the bedroom door as it’s only used to assist in escaping or to put the fire out while it’s small.
Have seen this many times, its true. A closed door, even a piddly hollow core interior cheapass door is a tremendous barrier against fire/heat etc. One of our tactics actually is, if part of the house experiences flashover (sudden ignition of an entire room/area and everything in it) you only have a few seconds to escape because even our gear wont handle it. If you cant make it outside, you can bail into another room and closing the door will give you enough shelter and time to figure another way out.
GhostRevival on November 28th, 2025 at 16:01 UTC »
When I was a kid my house caught on fire while we were away (Mom left a steamer on accidentally ) and all of the rooms upstairs looked like the one on the right in OPs post except mine because I had my door closed. There was some minor smoke damage to some of my stuff but for the most part it was ok. The fire department was actively putting the fire out when my Mom came home from the store.
DRealLeal on November 28th, 2025 at 17:41 UTC »
I actually just spoke with a firefighter recently who was New York fire for 30 years. He said back then everyone was taught to leave all the doors open so it’s easier to escape which was wrong.
He said the best thing to do is close doors behind you as you clear each room when escaping a fire with family/pets as it contains the fire outside. He told me he responded to plenty of fires with death where people would leave their bedroom door open, open the window to jump out which then proceeded to feed the fire oxygen and burned the people alive.
So now I leave every single door closed and I keep a fire extinguisher by the bedroom door as it’s only used to assist in escaping or to put the fire out while it’s small.
TheFlyingBoxcar on November 28th, 2025 at 19:11 UTC »
Firefighter here.
Have seen this many times, its true. A closed door, even a piddly hollow core interior cheapass door is a tremendous barrier against fire/heat etc. One of our tactics actually is, if part of the house experiences flashover (sudden ignition of an entire room/area and everything in it) you only have a few seconds to escape because even our gear wont handle it. If you cant make it outside, you can bail into another room and closing the door will give you enough shelter and time to figure another way out.