Last week marked the 3-year anniversary of a senseless tragedy – a fire in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx that resulted in the deaths of 13 people, including several children. The fire began when a child was playing with the knobs on the stove in his apartment. When his mother evacuated with her children, the apartment door did not close, and the smoke and flames blocked the egress route for other residents of the building – this was eerily similar to a NYC fire that occurred in 1998.
In the news coverage of the Bronx fire, reporters frequently mentioned that the child’s mother left the apartment door open, while I repeatedly proclaimed to my computer screen, “THE DOOR SHOULD HAVE BEEN SELF-CLOSING!” Although for many years the model codes have required interior entry doors to dwelling units and sleeping units to be 20-minute self-closing fire door assemblies, some older residential buildings pre-date this requirement. Unfortunately, this has resulted in loss of life on multiple occasions.
There have been many fatal fires where closed fire doors could have saved lives by limiting the fire’s spread. I recently shared a report on a Minneapolis high-rise fire, where an open door to the apartment of fire origin compromised the egress route and 5 people died. In a Chicago apartment fire, the residents left the door to their unit open so the cat could escape. When a firefighter was killed during an apartment fire in Maryland, a fire modeling analysis was created to show the effects of the open door. I’ve also posted examples of how closed fire doors compartmentalize buildings and limit the spread of smoke and flames (check this one out!). Door closers are life savers.
Blaming fire victims for leaving the door open as they escape is not the answer. In 2011, a fire occurred at the Evelyn Gardens apartment complex in Albany, California, and the family’s failure to close the door was again noted by news media. Soon after that fire, the city of Albany passed a law requiring apartment entrance doors to be self-closing – FINALLY, a long-term solution! After the 2017 Bronx fire, New York City also passed a law requiring these doors to be self-closing, and Local Law 111 established July 31, 2021 as the deadline for compliance:
§ 28-315.10 Self-closing doors. All doors providing access to interior corridors or stairs in occupancy groups R-1 and R-2 shall be self-closing or equipped with a device that will ensure closing after having been opened by July 31, 2021.
In addition, the law amended the administrative code of NYC, establishing responsibility for maintaining the doors, and consequences for failure to do so:
§ 27-2041.1 Self-closing doors.
a. It shall be the duty of the owner of a multiple dwelling, which is required to be equipped with self-closing doors pursuant to section 28-315.10, or any other applicable law, to keep and maintain such doors in good repair.
b. Any owner required to keep and maintain self-closing doors pursuant to subdivision a of this section who fails to keep or maintain such doors shall be liable for a class C immediately hazardous violation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the time within which to correct such violation shall be twenty-one days after service of the notice of violation.
If a fire door is standing open, it can’t perform as designed…door closers ARE life savers.
You may be asking, “What about spring hinges – would they meet the requirements of the NYC law?” Yes, in my opinion, a self-closing door with spring hinges would be compliant with this law. However, over time, spring hinges may need to be adjusted in order to close and latch the door. The door control provided by a door closer is more reliable and less likely to need adjustment.
I would love to see more state or local laws requiring existing apartment entry doors to be self-closing. The question is how to make this happen without waiting for a tragedy?
You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.
Thanks for continuing to post on this topic and school classroom safety
I suggest putting the self-closing requirement into Section 1010 of the IBC. ” ‘Means of Egress’ doors for Group R occupancies shall be self-closing.” All of the multi-family residential fire examples you noted would fall into Group R.
Some fine distinctions between “sleeping rooms” and “sleeping units” doors might have to be drawn. And, might need to exempt single-family R-2 and duplex R-2 if the duplex setup doesn’t have a shared exit route.
Since the IBC covers operating force on doors, the spring-hinge solution might not work.
This would take a few code cycles for all states to get on board, and some may edit the text to make life easier for landlords, but it would go a long ways.
Hi Joel –
Per today’s codes, those doors would typically be 20-minute fire door assemblies, which means they have to be self-closing. The main problem is the existing doors in older buildings.
– Lori
Why is it that it takes lives to be lost to enact common sense codes? Just like a dangerous roadway intersection, someone has to die in a traffic accident before the road department, township, borough, city- whatever agency is responsible- puts in a traffic signal.
So, New York now has a law to address the apartment entry door. Lets hope it is implemented and enforced. Vandals will do what they do and try to break and dismantle the door closers while the building managers, those who take their job seriously, and their maintenance staff, will be very busy making sure these doors aren’t propped open and that the door closers are properly adjusted and maintained. It will be an ongoing struggle, but it is important and necessary.
Hey Lori! Along the lines of spring hinges, from your experience/perspective, would gravity hinges fulfill this requirement? Thanks!
That’s a good question – I don’t know! I would lean toward no, but I will try to find out.
– Lori
In Toronto after an Apartment fire in the late 80s it became mandatory that all suite entry doors have a regulated self closing device ( notice it said regulated) in other words No Spring Hinges.
It’s a simple thing to do, at minimal cost
WHY ARE WE STILL DEBATING THIS …
Come on people wake up.
Lori Greene:
While I could not agree more than apartment entry door closers are life-savers, I do not agree that it’s local jurisdictions that have “finally” started to address this need. Self- or automatic-closing fire doors have been a basic requirement in the International Building Code for decades, since at least as far back as the 2003 edition, under “Opening Protectives” (Section 715 in 2003 but renumbered to Section 716 in more recent editions).
2003 IBC:
715.3.7 Door dosing. Fire doors shall be self-closing or automatic-
closing in accordance with this section.
Exception: Fire doors located in common walls separating
sleeping units in Group R-1 shall be permitted without
automatic-closing or self-closing devices.
2021 IBC – slightly different wording (latching was added at some point) but still the same basic requirement for closing:
716.2.6.1 Door closing. Fire doors shall be latching
and self- or automatic-closing in accordance with this
section.
Exceptions:
1. Fire doors located in common walls separating
sleeping units in Group R-1 shall be permitted
without automatic- or self-closing devices.
2. The elevator car doors and the associated
hoistway enclosure doors at the floor level
designated for recall in accordance with Section
3003.2 shall be permitted to remain open
during Phase I emergency recall operation.
Hi David –
I agree with you that the requirement has been in the codes for decades – even before 2003 – but there are many apartment buildings that predate the requirements for rated doors. In addition, there are millions of fire doors on apartment entries that were self-closing when installed but are no longer self-closing because of one reason or another.
– Lori