The other night, I tucked my youngest daughter into bed, and as I left the room she said, “Mom…did you forget something?  Close before you doze!”  In my defense, I was planning to go back into her room with a pile of clean laundry which is why I hadn’t closed the door, but the point here is that a 13-year-old got the message about closing her bedroom door at night, and shared it with her mom.

I will not be at all surprised if my daughter shares this message at sleepovers at friends’ houses, or with her college roommate in a few years, and remembers it throughout her adult life.  While planting seeds and waiting for them to grow and produce fruit might seem like a difficult approach to take when a threat feels more pressing, this is the way to achieve long-term success.  Educating the general public about life safety will pay off in the long run.

Yesterday, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro spoke with Bill Ritter on the show Up Close about recent fires that occurred in NYC, where open doors had a negative impact on safety.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear Commissioner Nigro acknowledge that the apartment doors should have been self-closing, with further discussion about the benefit of closed doors.  He recommended to apartment residents that if their door is not self-closing, they should speak with building management and get it fixed.

I can’t embed only this portion of the show, but if you click the image below (or this link), the video of the interview with the commissioner is the second video down the page.  If we continue to share this message with our friends and family, maybe “close before you doze” will eventually be as familiar as “stop, drop, and roll.”

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