These photos from the Glassboro Fire Department are a terrific reminder of the value of fire doors.  Although most doors in single-family homes are not required to be fire-rated, the International Residential Code does require protection between the garage and the home.  Here is an excerpt from the 2015 IRC, which describes a 20-minute fire door or other substantial door, with a self-closing device:

R302.5.1 Opening protection. Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Other openings between the garage and residence shall be equipped with solid wood doors not less than 1 3/8 inches (35 mm) in thickness, solid or honeycomb core steel doors not less than 1 3/8 inches (35 mm) thick, or 20-minute fire-rated doors, equipped with a self-closing device.

From the fire department’s Facebook page:

On 8/11 at approximately 23:00 hours station 26-1 was dispatched to a reported dwelling fire in the Camelot development. The fire was contained to the attached garage of the dwelling thanks in part to the metal fire rated door that had a self closing feature and completely drywalled walls and ceilings which is a standard in new construction.

Garage 1

Garage 2

Garage 3

Garage 4

Thank you to the Glassboro Fire Department for permission to share these photos with iDigHardware’s readers!

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