I LOVE THIS IDEA!
As many of you know, I’m a big supporter of UL’s Close Before You Doze campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of sleeping with the bedroom door closed. I even got approval from UL to include one of their graphics on the back of the Code Reference Guide, with thousands distributed each year.
I recently received some photos from my coworker, Ken Cook, who saw something at the gym that he knew I would be excited about – A TRAVELING DOOR. Check it out:
The idea was developed by the Fishers Fire Department Community Risk Educators, and the traveling door was created by the firefighters in Fishers, Indiana, so I contacted Captain John Mehling to find out more. The captain told me, “Fishers firefighters have seen in numerous fires, the difference a closed door makes in terms of smoke and fire damage. In person, it is a startling contrast.”
The traveling door made its first appearance at the Fishers Summer Concert Series, where firefighters spoke with concert attendees about the importance of sleeping with the bedroom door closed as well as changing smoke alarms every 10 years. The door was then scheduled for a week in each of the city’s schools, reaching more than 22,000 students, and has also been placed in day-care centers, churches, businesses, and various events around the city.
There are 2 QR codes on the door – 1 leads to more information about UL’s Close Before You Doze campaign and the other can be used to schedule an appearance of the door. I think this is a FANTASTIC way to help people learn about the fire protection offered by a closed door, and I hope other fire departments will consider implementing the idea. It’s such an important message and it WILL save lives.
Here’s a video for a close-up look:
What do you think about the traveling door??
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Coincidentally, this news story just arrived in my inbox, from KSN News:
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I like people that come up with new ways to promote life safety!!!!!
Good idea, maybe a couple of printed pictures on the non fire side, showing a burned out room and non burned out room
Excellent! schools are the best place to bring the door. young children love firemen and will remember the experience for a life time.
Our FD also has had multiple fires where closed doors made a significant difference. In one more recent case proving that even a hollow core door can make a big difference. I’m pretty certain any FD who pays attention should be able to relate similar results, it’s obvious when you look for it.
Thanks Adam – I just wonder why it took so long for us to figure it out!
– Lori
I know on our end the lessons learned in one place were slow to travel to others until the last decade when social media and the internet really made info sharing a minute by minute resource. This coupled with the UL/NIST fire dynamics and behavior modelling showing how fire travels in a structure both before and after FD arrival and the subsequent changes in our tactics, all lead us to a far better understanding. Sadly, not all of us are as up-to-date as others and thus we must continue to have great informative resources like this one to educate ourselves and others for the betterment of everyone’s quality of life.
That makes sense – I love seeing today’s technology and social media used this way!
– Lori
I’m way older than my age when it comes to social media, but I must agree that SM is a huge benefit to the passage of information.