Why you should never sleep with your door open, according to firefighters

With several isolated wildfires continuing to ravage parts of California, huge areas of the state destroyed and tens of thousands of residents evacuated, the issue of fire safety in general has been raised and what precautions households can take to protect yourself and your property.

Practically half of all house fires start in the kitchen with figures spiking during the winter months. But critically, around 90 percent of all home fires are preventable.

House fires more common in the winter months

Over 50 percent of house fires occur between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when people are fast asleep. Bedtime is the most dangerous time for fires to start in the home as they escalate undetected. Fires are capable of spreading from their source to other part of the building in less than half a minute.

And according to National Fire Safety Council (NFSC) there is another factor that could save lives when a fire starts at home. It may even be the difference between life and death. The NFSC points out that nearly 60% of home occupants sleep with their bedroom door open.

Why you should keep your bedroom door closed at night

However, closing the bedroom door will slow the spread of toxic smoke, heat and fire so it’s important to always shut the door when you go to sleep - a closed door may give your additional time to exit safely.

Additional precaution include installing a dual sensor smoke alarm both inside and outside sleeping areas. Smoke is the big killer. A study conducted by Underwriters Laboratories’ Firefighter Safety Research Institute demonstrated how easily smoke dispersed through an open bedroom door compared to a closed one.

Smoke from a lower level fire took about 90 seconds to enter the open door bedroom, but after three minutes the room was completely engulfed in smoke with zero visibility. After five minutes there was still some visibility in the adjacent closed door bedroom.

Keeping your bedroom door closed will also slow the fire down. Temperatures inside a room with the door closed can be up to 500 degrees lower than the temperature outside the door.

Apart from fitting smoke alarms, other preventative measures that should be considered include: making sure that windows, and all other possible escape routes are not blocked, locked, stuck and any security bars can be opened. Don’t let combustible material such as old newspapers accumulate. Test your smoke alarm every month and remember to replace batteries.