Whenever I teach a class on fire door inspection, questions always come up about holes in fire doors and how to fill them.  I promised a class of 120 last fall at the Yankee Security Conference that I would write a blog post about it, but there was really no good solution, particularly for wood doors - until now.

On January 19th, 2011, Firefighter Mark Falkenhan was killed in the line of duty while fighting an apartment fire at 30 Dowling Circle in the Hillendale section of Baltimore County, Maryland.  The fire was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the video below details the events leading to this fatality.

UPDATE:  This application was discussed at length on the Building Codes Forum, so go check it out to see what the AHJs had to say.  The final decision was that the door should have been a 20-minute door, even if the contents of the electric room did not require a higher rating.  As a 20-minute door it should have been self-closing and self-latching. 

Last week I posted some photos of a pair of 20-minute doors with some "issues," and I want to thank everyone who left comments with their thoughts on the situation.  Often, people tell me that they know something is required but aren't sure where to find it written, so I thought it would be good to follow up on what the issues were and why, as well as addressing some of the comments.

When I lived in a condominium complex in the mid-90's, I don't think I gave much thought to fire safety.  I remember hearing the fire alarm in the middle of the night and going out to my balcony to see if I could smell smoke.  If not, it must be a false alarm.  That seems CRAZY to me now.  Luckily, I lived in a fairly safe building.  The stair doors and the cross-corridor doors were never propped open.  The unit entry doors had spring hinges so they didn't close as reliably as if they'd had closers, but thankfully we never had a fire while I lived there.  Someday when I'm helping my oldest daughter look for her first apartment, you can bet that I won't be as lax about fire safety.  I may just zip her up in a flame resistant jumpsuit before I send her off to college.  :-)

Just when I was wondering what I should post about tonight, I received this photo from Brendan Daley of SURV.

It's tough enough to get anyone to pay attention to fire doors, but when a fire is a result of a "voodoo sex ceremony," there's little to no chance that anyone will take note of the role played by the propped-open fire door.  In a 5-alarm fire in Brooklyn on February 20th, the door to the apartment where the fire originated was propped open in an attempt to dissipate the smoke.  A window in the apartment was also opened, and heavy winds blew the fire out into the corridor.  Other open doors in the corridor allowed the fire to spread and the 7-story building was destroyed.

Judging from the photos, these doors may not have been code-compliant, but they were still able to hinder the spread of smoke and fire, at least to some extent.  That does not mean that any old non-compliant door will be fine so we might as well stop worrying about them...one of the biggest issues with fire doors is finding them propped open with a wedge or a more creative device.  If the doors are open, they're worthless.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record.  Like maybe people are sick of hearing me talk about fire and egress doors, how they protect us, and what happens when they are disabled or neglected.  When I meet someone, I don't immediately launch into a discussion about doors because I'm pretty sure they'll think I'm a weirdo from the start and probably avoid me the next time.