Fire and Egress Doors in the News
Feeling the Heat: Fire Doors - Building.co.uk
WW: Hollow Metal Doors (Literally)
I saw both of these doors today, in two different facilities. Yes, they are both fire rated. One is a cross-corridor pair and one is a stair door.
Reader Photos – 2 of 2
Here's the second batch of reader photos. My emailbox is empty now. Not.
Reader Photos – 1 of 2
I've received lots of reader photos lately...thank you, and keep 'em coming!
Decoded: Closers on Classroom Doors (April 2011)
This post was printed in the April 2011 issue of Doors & Hardware
Woodstock, Ontario Apartment Fire
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. :-)
Evelyn Gardens
I received an article today about a fire at the Evelyn Gardens apartment complex in Albany, California, which resulted in $400,000 in damage and one fatality. In the article, Fire Chief Marc McGinn is quoted several times in regard to apartment entry doors. Here's an excerpt:
Signage on Fire Doors
Just when I was wondering what I should post about tonight, I received this photo from Brendan Daley of SURV.
Voodoo Ritual (& Open Fire Door) Results in Fatality
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.
Ballroom Entrance
The hotel in Las Vegas where we had our sales meeting had a Moroccan theme...I felt right at home since my husband is originally from Morocco and I love that style. The entrance doors to the ballroom had a pattern created by contrasting stain and oversized metal brads. They're labeled doors so I wonder whether the brads were considered plant-ons or whether they required any special testing or approval.
No Wedging Allowed
The suit was in regard to the breach of security caused by wedging open the fire door, but I thought this was kind of interesting:
More Doors After Fires
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.
Hospital Stops
Every so often, I wonder what I'm going to write about on this blog after I've covered all of the code requirements for doors and hardware. I mean, it's a very specific subject area so at some point I could run out of questions. And then something comes up that I've never looked into, and I stop wondering. There will always be more questions. If hardware was easy, it would be called "easyware," right? :-)
Decoded: Single Operation Egress
This post was printed in the February 2011 issue of Doors and Hardware
The Rest of the Story…
The other day I posted some photos of a fire door that had done its job and prevented a fire from spreading. Several of you emailed me about the photos, because they're SUCH a great illustration of what a fire door is for. It's easy to imagine what would have happened if it was propped open. Well, this morning I received even more photos of the same building (the Robert Moses Nature Center), from Bill Johnson of the Door Security and Safety Foundation, and this afternoon I received a link to a news article from Jerry Heppes of the Door & Hardware Institute. Thanks guys!!
$63,000 Fine
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.
Casino Wrap-Up
Considering how many photos I took of doors during my Mommy's weekend at Foxwoods, it's a good thing I'm not a gambler. I wouldn't have had any time to check out the doors if I was stuck at the slots. I can't imagine what Las Vegas will be like...I hope I don't get arrested like this guy. Now go get a cup of coffee while these 22 photos load.
Faulty Fire Doors in the News
I've been doing some research for my FDAI presentation, looking for specific examples of how the inspection of fire doors and correction of deficiencies can have a direct impact on life safety as well as the protection of property. It's not very often that you see fire doors in the news, but these two recent examples showed up over the holidays:
Top Hinge Retrospective
We're back from our vacation, but I have some more photos to share before I finish up this unplanned series on hotel doors. As I mentioned in an earlier post, our hotel was a series of buildings connected by propped open, non-latching, damaged doors which were originally fire rated (as indicated by the painted labels). Based on the condition of the doors, particularly the top hinges, I'm going to make the educated guess that these doors used to be operable, until the facility experienced trouble with the top hinges.
Another Hotel
I don't stay in flea-bag motels - I really don't. That's why it amazes me that almost every hotel I stay in has extreme issues with their fire doors. I'm on a short vacation with my family, and as you can see from the graphic on the right, the resort consists of several connected 2-story buildings with a total of 256 guest rooms. The only rooms that are equipped with sprinklers are the rooms that have fireplaces - if I had known that I might have sprung for the upgrade.
Reader Photos
I'm in the mood to clean house (figuratively speaking only), so here's the latest collection of reader photos to hit my inbox. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send them. More, please. :-)
Cocoanut Grove & Our Lady of the Angels
When I teach a code class, I often begin by talking about some of the tragic fires that have shaped today's codes. Because of the lessons learned from these fires and the code changes that resulted, the safety of building occupants has been greatly improved.
Movie Night
A couple of weeks ago someone asked me whether the exterior exit doors for a movie theater required panic hardware, and in my opinion, the answer is a resounding YES! Movie theaters are considered assembly occupancies, and the occupant load is well over the limit (50 or 100 occupants depending on the code) that would require panic hardware.
NFPA 80 & NFPA 105
Next Tuesday is the proposal closing date for the 2013 editions of NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, and NFPA 105 - Standard for the Installation of Smoke Door Assemblies and Other Opening Protectives.
Labels for Fire-Rated Frames
Questions about frame labels have come up several times this week, so I guess it's time for a post. I've pulled together some information from various sources and I hope some of you will chime in with your input.
Reader Photos: Cruise Ship Doors
I have received SO MANY reader photos lately - THANK YOU!
2009 IBC / 8th Edition Mass Code
If you missed the New England Chapter DHI meeting last week...a Q&A presentation on codes, the question/answer document and the handout are now available on the chapter website.
Good News / Bad News
First the good news. When the annual DHI conference was held in Boston, I conducted a 3-hour code class for architects (I later conducted the class for our DHI chapter.). Public speaking isn't my favorite thing to do, so when one of the attendees approached me before class started and said, "You're not REALLY going to talk for 3 HOURS about CODES, are you?", I got a little nervous. When we conduct presentations for architects, they're typically lunch-n-learns - 1 hour max, with lunch (and cookies!) as an incentive to attend. We get great feedback on our lunch presentations, but asking architects to sit through 3 hours of discussion on hardware and codes was a different story. To my surprise, about 100 architects registered to attend, they actually showed up, and they stayed until the end. I didn't lose my train of thought, pass out, have an "accident", or lose my voice, so I considered the class a success.
Coat Hooks
A couple of weeks ago, someone called to ask me where in the codes it states that 12 coat hooks can not be mounted on a 90-minute rated wood door. I have to admit, that was a new one.
Back to School
I received these photos last week and I didn't have much advice...maybe someone else does. These are classroom doors in a school for autistic children, and the extra locksets are due to the special needs of the students. The students are unable to retract both latches at the same time (if they can even reach the upper lockset). While this keeps the children in the classroom (a good thing), it also prevents egress (a bad thing).
Mouse Holes
These doors are from the same children's museum as the planetarium exit doors in the previous post. I first noticed the "mouse hole" at the bottom of one pair, and wondered why it was there, until I saw multiple other holes with wires running through.
Reader Photos
Maybe I should have a new series called "Jeff Tock's Photos." :-) Jeff is one of the Ingersoll Rand trainers who travels the world teaching people about hardware, and he sees a lot of "special applications." Jeff sent me this group of photos recently (thanks Jeff!):
FDAI Specification – Revised
A while back, I posted some recommended specification language regarding the annual inspection of fire and egress door assemblies, and I have since revised it based on everyone's comments. The original language and comments are still here, and the updated language is below. This should be inserted into the hardware specification for projects designed to comply with the 2009 edition of the IBC, or in jurisdictions which require compliance with NFPA 80-2007 or 2010. Feel free to comment if you have suggestions for improvements.
Reader Photos
Some creative and unusual hardware applications sent in by blog readers:
Smoke – NFPA 80
NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, is a document which most of us in the hardware industry began studying in our earliest hardware school courses and refer back to throughout our careers. This standard is THE publication on fire doors, and is referenced by all of the codes and standards used in the U.S. that have anything to say about fire doors. You'd think that because of the close relationship between fire doors and smoke doors (some fire doors ARE smoke doors, after all) that NFPA 80 would have something to say about smoke. As it turns out, not much.
Smoke – NFPA 105
I usually like to start with the quick and easy items on my to-do list, which is why it takes me forever to get to the big stuff. It's a fault, and I recognize that, but nobody's perfect. I tried to find the easy place to start this series of posts, but there seems to be only one logical place to begin - NFPA 105.
Smoke – The Series
It’s official. I can’t hide from it any longer. People ask me about “smoke doors” almost every day, but if you know me you know that I have a lot going on, so whenever I try to scale the mountain of information about this topic I get sidetracked by the little things that need my attention.
Don’t Get Burned
On Thursday, May 13th, the New England Chapter of the Door & Hardware Institute will be holding our meeting at a new location - Vinny T's in Dedham, Massachusetts. The meeting topic is fire door assembly inspection (FDAI), and many of the local fire door inspectors will be participating in the presentations. The format is "cracker-barrel" style, where there are 5 or 6 short (10-minute) presentations about various sub-topics, with time for Q&A.
Rosepark Care Home
A while back, I wrote a post about the requirement for fire doors to be self-closing, and I referenced a fire at the Rosepark Care Home in Uddington, Scotland. The fire occurred in 2004, but the results of the investigation are being reported now. I've been collecting news articles related to fire and egress doors on www.firedoorguide.com, and there are several articles there about the Rosepark fire.
Boston Back Bay Fire
There was a 9-alarm fire last week in Boston, in a 10-story condominium building. Several residents had to be rescued by firefighters, because they didn't evacuate the building immediately when the alarm sounded. One resident, who waited 10-15 minutes (by her estimate) to leave, found a stairwell full of smoke and a locked door to the roof. She was found at the roof door in full cardiac arrest with no pulse and no respirations. She was revived by firefighters and she survived. She's extremely lucky.
Stairwell Doors
I think I've seen so many non-code-compliant doors that I'm becoming numb to them. In the old days I would be spurred into action by the sight of a blocked exit or propped-open fire door. Yesterday I was at the local bagel joint and I saw their marked emergency exit blocked with stored high-chairs. No surprise. I went to my chiropractor's office and in the 3-story stairwell, two doors were propped open by the construction crew doing a 2nd-floor office fit-up, and the third floor door's latchset had been removed and replaced with a push plate and pull. Ho-hum.
Triangle Factory Fire – 99 Years Ago Today
The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25th, 1911, claimed 146 lives - mostly young immigrant women. Building owners locked the exit doors to keep the workers in and the union organizers out, so when a fire broke out on the 8th floor it was impossible for some of the 600+ workers on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors to escape. The fire escape was not sufficient to hold the number of fleeing occupants, and collapsed. Firefighters' ladders were several stories too short, and water from the fire hoses could not reach the upper floors of the building. Sixty workers jumped to their deaths.
Parkside West Fire
Last Tuesday night, approximately fifty people were left homeless by a fire at the Parkside West Apartments in New London, Connecticut, which apparently began on a stove in a 3rd-story apartment. One of the newspaper accounts of the fire investigation reported that the fire marshal stated "in the third-floor apartment where the fire is believed to have started, a weatherstrip prevented the door from closing, allowing smoke to spread."
Full Surface Hinge
I've been writing a lot about fire doors lately, and specifically about what bad condition many existing fire doors are in. The codes have always required fire doors to be kept in good working order, but with the specific requirement for the annual inspection of fire doors it will hopefully bring more of these deficiencies to light.
Survey Q6-7-8 – Repairs are Expensive but Necessary
This is the 8th post in a series about fire doors and the results of a recent (unscientific) survey.