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.
The surprising and sad thing about these news stories that came across my desk this week is that none of these fatal fires were first-time occurrences. Four people were killed in the Ontario retirement home fire that is the subject of a current inquest, but a total of 45 people have been killed in Ontario retirement home fires since 1980 - the worst record in North America. There were fourteen people killed in a Peru rehabilitation center fire this week, and 29 more were killed in another rehab center fire in Peru in January. Nine people died in a karaoke bar fire in Busan, South Korea, and 15 more were killed in another karaoke bar fire in the same city in 2009.
When I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago for the IAPSC conference, it also happened to be school vacation week so I brought the kids along for a visit to my parents' house. They all survived while I was in Miami Beach, so when I got back from the conference I took them to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando. One of our Florida specwriters, Steve King, had written the hardware spec for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I couldn't pass up the chance to check it out.
I realize that not everybody is as excited about new code developments as I am, but some of you might want to take a look or a listen...the code development hearings for the IBC/IFC are going on right now, and discussion on the Means of Egress proposals will be starting soon. The webcast is very clear and you can get a sense of what it's like to be at the hearings, if you're so inclined. :-)
My friend Nolan Thrope of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies really knows how to make a girl cry:
I recently received an email from Steve Needy, who maintains the beautiful and recently-renovated Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis. During the renovation, many of the original (1932) LCN 206 concealed closers were rebuilt and reinstalled. Steve's problem was that the spring power made some of the doors difficult for some visitors to open, particularly the restroom doors. Steve asked me how to adjust the closers or if that was even possible.
When I teach classes about fire doors, one of the most common questions is regarding modifying fire doors in the field. NFPA allows limited modifications to be done in the field, and if doors are to be modified beyond what is allowed by NFPA 80, they are supposed to be taken back to a UL/WH shop, modified, re-labeled, and reinstalled. This made me wonder about the big hole left in the fire separation while the door is in the shop. Temporary doors aren't feasible in most cases, because if you're going to go to the trouble and expense of fitting a temporary door into an existing frame, you might as well just replace the existing door instead of modifying it. The answer might be to post a "fire watch" for the time period that the fire doors are removed.
When I was the editor of CSI's Boston Chapter newsletter, I was added to the distribution list for Ralph Liebing's weekly editorial, Per-SPEC-tives. This week's was a tribute to product representatives who partner with architects and specifiers (which I know many of us do), so I asked Ralph if I could publish it here. Enjoy!
Since this is school vacation week and I had to work in Miami for a couple of days, I flew the kids down to their grandparents' and now I am taking a few days "off" in sunny Florida. As most of you know, I'm never completely off...I'm always taking care of email and keeping my eyes open for doors of interest.
I'm spending the night in Miami Beach for the International Association of Professional Security Consultants (IAPSC) conference. I had some free time this afternoon so I took a drive around looking for some doors to share with you all. Despite my hunting, almost every commercial door I saw was run-of-the-mill aluminum storefront. No custom pulls, no fancy glass, nothing ornate...I'm sure they're here somewhere, but I didn't find them.
A story arrived in my inbox today, regarding the tradition of the Holy Fire at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The day before Easter each year, clerics emerge from the small room believed to be the site of Jesus' tomb with a flame which is then spread among the pilgrims crowding the church and out to those gathered on the street.
In the last month there have been almost 8,000 visits to iDigHardware...about a 30% increase over the same period last year. That's so exciting!! I was helping out with a class today (Preparing for a Fire Door Inspection taught by Jeff Tock of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies), and several people mentioned that they were frequent visitors to the site. One told me that I "got him hooked on Doors & Hardware magazine" (when was the last time you heard that?). During the class I received an email that cracked me up, which read in part:
This pair of doors is the entrance to Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston, a five-bastioned fort built between 1834 and 1851. These doors look old enough to be original...with a little repair work at some point.
Jon Bossie of Surveillance Specialties sent me the photos below to see if any of my readers had ideas about how to add access control to these sliding doors. He and I both have some thoughts but maybe there's something we haven't considered. The doors are mounted on the outside face of the wall, each serving an individual office. When the door is closed, it overlaps the aluminum frame face. There is currently no method of securing the doors. WWYD?
As many of you know, I was away last week to do some specwriter training. While I thoroughly enjoyed hanging with some of my peeps for a few days (not to mention 12 hours in the car with 3 of them), my email really piled up. I was so happy to find these photos in my emailbox, so I could put up a quick blog post.
I went out to dinner tonight with some of the specwriters from the class that we're teaching in Delaware. Those of you who are in the hardware business may spot the special guest who joined us for dinner. :D
Do you ever look at a door opening or a particular hardware installation and ask yourself, "Why'd they do that??" I know you have! I've decided to create a new category of posts, where we can puzzle these out together.
Thanks to y'all I'm never short of reader photos, and these photos leave me wordless...just in time for Wordless Wednesday!
Is it my imagination or do most architects wait until the last possible moment to ask for help with their hardware specifications? Why is that?? My theory is that most of them hate hardware so much that they can't bear to look at it or think about it until it's almost too late. I feel the same way about my taxes. Nope, I haven't done them yet. I wonder if H&R Block will take good care of me when I call on April 14th.
This post was printed in the April 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware
Sent in by Gary Goldberg of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies...this was so much easier than cutting a hole in the wall. :(
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.
These buildings were ALL OCCUPIED when these photos were taken. Depressing.
Last weekend we braved the crowds and took the kids to the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade. The weather was AMAZING!!! And so was this gorgeous antique fire engine:
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.
Last week I was teaching a class in a room with a pair of fire doors that had some issues. Anyone care to list some of them?
I was working on a different post but that one will have to wait. I just received these photos, it's Wordless Wednesday, and I am wordless (yes, again). This is an exit for a hockey rink, sent in by an anonymous reader. Hockey rinks are notoriously tough on their doors and hardware, but this "solution" makes me want to cry.
These ALL came from Jeff Tock, one of our national trainers who spends most weeks traveling around conducting classes and sees a lot of doors in the process. Jeff will be here in New England in a few weeks conducting the "Preparing for a Fire Door Inspection" class for facilities. If you work for a hospital, school, university, or other type of facility in the area and want to make sure that you're prepared, let me know and I'll put you on the invitation list.
Remember the old video of the various types of exit devices being run over by a fire truck? It's a classic, and I still get the urge to watch it every so often..."I am examining the [flattened] device. It is not working." You could make the case that a panic device doesn't need to withstand the weight of a fire truck, but I've seen some herds of kids run out of school at the end of the day that are almost as tough.
How about some reader photos to ease you into the weekend? :D
Some more doors from our winter vacation...Saint Francis Xavier Church, also known as "The Kennedy Church" because it was the summer parish of John F. Kennedy as well as many of the other Kennedys.
This post was printed in the March 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware
With 3 young kids in school and spending a fair amount of time in school buildings, school shootings hit very close to home for me. The most recent shootings in Chardon, Ohio resulting in the death of 3 students are just so senseless and tragic. The raw pain of the victims' parents is excruciating to watch.
By the time most of you read this it will be Thursday, but right now it's Wordless Wednesday!
...Well, one of my most embarrassing professional moments, anyway.
Today is the 3rd anniversary of iDigHardware (aka iHateHardware)! WOOHOOOO!!!
Whenever we're on a family road trip, we try to find cool places to stop along the way to break up the ride. Today we went to Battleship Cove, the world's largest historic naval ship exhibit. The museum is home to the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the USS Lionfish submarine, the battleship USS Massachusetts, and several other vehicles. It's really an amazing place, and the kids loved looking at all the different rooms, many of which were set up as they would have been while the ships were occupied.
It's school vacation week and we took the kids to the Cape for a few days. Here are some of the doors we've seen on our trip.
Earlier this week I read several news reports of a disastrous fire in an overcrowded Honduras prison, where hundreds of prisoners died. Many of them remained locked in their cells because there was reportedly only one staff member who had keys to the cells, and he left in the midst of the panic. It made me wonder about the current code requirements for egress in prisons. I know it's not something most of us encounter regularly, but inquiring minds want to know.
The 2010 Florida Fire Prevention Code, effective December 31, 2011, requires fire doors to be maintained in accordance with NFPA 80 and references the 2007 edition of that standard in Chapter 2 - Referenced Publications. The 2007 edition of NFPA 80 requires fire door assemblies to be inspected annually as part of the maintenance requirements, and the requirements for annual inspections of fire doors are specifically indicated in the 2010 Florida Fire Prevention Code (see 12.4 below). Fire door assemblies in new and existing facilities are to be inspected annually per the 11 criteria listed below, and a written record kept for review by the AHJ. Any deficiencies must be corrected "without delay." (Click here for FDAI FAQs.)
This article was published in the February 2012 issue of the Locksmith Ledger:
Way back in hardware school we were taught that rim panic hardware with a removable mullion is the most secure and maintenance-free application for a pair of doors. Most facilities prefer mullions instead of vertical rod panic hardware, which can be difficult to install and to keep properly adjusted. On the other hand, most architects request concealed vertical rod panic hardware, to avoid seeing the mullion or rods. I think the benefits of the mullion far outweigh any aesthetic issues.
Every so often I love to have a guest blogger write a post for me, so I can have the night off to do something fun and exciting like attend a PTO meeting (sad, right?). My colleague, Steve Ostapower, was recently involved in a situation where the power usage of a Von Duprin EL (electric latch retraction) device was questioned, and I asked him to share his findings with you (Thanks Steve!). Enjoy!
December 8th, 2011, was the 50-year anniversary of a fire at Hartford Hospital which caused the death of 16 patients, staff, and visitors, and resulted in many important changes to code requirements for hospital construction. Connecticut Public Television has just released a video about the tragedy and the resulting code changes. Other than the statement "all patient room doors must have positively latching hinges," it's a great piece.
I LOVE THIS PHOTO!
It’s official – I have a new job (woohoo!). For the last 3 years while I’ve been getting to know all of you and putting as much code/application information on this site as possible, I have also been managing our specification team for New England. At times it has been a struggle to do both, hence the late-night blog posts.
Even though I risked being called a weirdo by my colleagues, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to learn more about the 5" wide edge channels that are sometimes required on fire-rated wood doors with concealed vertical rod exit devices. When these channels show up on the jobsite without warning, architects tend to be less than pleased. The interesting thing about these doors is that although they have the channels and fire exit hardware, there are no visible labels on the doors or frames. It's possible that the door label is on top, although the concealed closer channels take up most of the real estate up there. We explored ways to check the top of these super-tall doors, but it will have to remain a mystery unless we can sweet-talk our way onto the lift they use to change the lightbulbs.
I'm in San Antonio, Texas at a beautiful hotel and conference center for our annual sales meeting, and there are A LOT of doors with mag-locks. Check out the coordination of the bank of pairs below...concealed closers, overhead stops, and mag-locks all coexisting in the same space. Notice that the mag-locks have a split armature to save space vs. a double-magnet. Every pair has a motion sensor, a push button, and a key switch, presumably for locking and unlocking the mag-lock. I would not typically specify a separate key switch for each opening in a bank of doors, but nobody asked me.
