Keep the bedroom door shut?

Question

I saw a programme on BBC1 a while ago that experimented with house fires. In it they said that you should keep all bedroom doors closed at night, including babies/toddlers/childrens. Personally I've never done this and don't think I'd even want to try, what does everyone else think?

Answer 1

I am a light sleeper. I would prefer to hear or smell it coming, even if it rudely wakened me. Only an open door would permit that. For me, it is the "open door policy." I would probably hear the crackling sounds and know instantly what they were.

Answer 2

The Fire Brigade have been advocating this advice for years- I remember someone coming to my primary school to give a talk on fire safety and now I'm in my thirties!
Most people in house fires don't burn to death, they die from smoke inhalation. A closed bedroom door will give you valuable escape time as well as block the entry for most of the smoke- it takes several minutes for fire to burn through a door. REMEMBER- in the event of a fire, if you touch the door handle and it is hot, you CANNOT leave the room that way, the fire is right outside- so use the window.
Have a smoke alarm fitted in the hallway. During a fire at night, everyone would hear it- even if in a deep sleep.
If they're unconscious due to toxic smoke inhalation because it entered quickly through an open bedroom door- their life would be in serious danger.
Be safe- get more fire safety info from your local fire station.

Answer 3

Closing of the doors obviously prevents the fire to be distributed all over your home. It also gives you some more time to breath and escape. You should, however, to have a fire alarm system in every room for detecting the fire, wherever it may start. The worsest thing would be that it starts in the childrens' room and you still sleep in your closed bedroom because the lack of alarm!

Answer 4

Doors being closed stops smoke from getting into rooms as quickly. Smoke is the main cause of death in house fires not burning. I'd make sure I had lots of smoke alarms and I'd check them regularly.
Makes sense really but I don't think I close all my doors either. Maybe it's something to start making a habit.

Answer 5

Agree, we keep the doors open to prevent individual rooms from getting "stuffy" and promote better airflow. This would obviously also increase the spread of smoke but we have mitigated this risk by ensuring we have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers on each floor of our home and feel the tradeoff is justified.
According to the university of Nebraska NEBGUIDE; they offer the following suggestions for kids rooms. (no mention of closing doors)
install smoke alarms near the children’s sleeping areas. Install alarms on each floor level. Do a monthly safety check. Ask about local fire codes.
___ Plan and implement monthly fire drills with children and staff. Specify an outside meeting place to account for all children. Teach children to “stop, drop and roll” in case of clothing fires.

Answer 6

With my Daughter, my Wife & I never shut our daughter's bedroom door for the first year of her life. I agree ANY door are a better safety barrier than no door.
With regard to Fire Safety I always use the guidance from the leaflets from the Fire Service

Answer 7

I close the downstairs ones after the recommendation of the fire experts, but not the bedroom ones, because of the little 'un. I may be compromising my safety precautions, but I don't like the idea of shutting the child out and need to be able to hear.

Answer 8

I have to keep mine shut. I snore, so the wife and me sleep in separate rooms, except when a certain urge takes us. I also fart in my sleep, and as we eat a largely vegetarian diet, the results are best imagined rather than described.

Furthermore, if I leave my bedroom door open, the cat wil come in to the room in the wee sma' hours and jump on the bed, purr and lick my ear. Very nice, but when you need some sleep...

Answer 9

You SHOULD keep all doors shut to starve a potential fire of air, Your probably at more comfort in the hope you'll hear something? You can die from fume inhalation without even waking up!! My advice for peace of mind install detectors EVERYWHERE!!

Answer 10

The average wooden door when shut will take about 20-30 minutes to burn through, giving you plenty of time to phone/shout for help or escape in other way.

20 minutes is much better than no minutes, is it not!