WEBVTT - How Can Closing Your Door at Night Save Your Life? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.480 Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:11.320 brain Stuff Lauren Bogobam Here. On a cold night in Fairfax, Virginia, 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.680 firefighters were dispatched to a house fire, where on arrival 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.720 they were told that everyone had exited the building. The 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.800 Fairfax County Fire and Rescue team went in to extinguish 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.720 the fire, which was in full force with rolling flames 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.120 and thick smoke. Two firefighters entered ahead of the crew 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.400 to search the home. As they were turning to finish 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.760 their search, one heard a voice calling for help. They 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.240 found a girl behind a closed bedroom door. The interior 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.879 of the house was burnt and smoke covered, but what 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.040 the firefighters saw behind the door was a clean room. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.360 One of them said in a video showing footage from 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.440 the fire, there was no smoke in the room. It 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.320 was completely clear. I noticed that there was no soot 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.240 on her. She didn't have any signs of smoke in 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.320 hillation or anything like that. She was just completely clean 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.640 due to the closed door. Most of us are familiar 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.120 with fire safety tips like stop, drop and roll, and 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.600 get low and go, but a decade of fire safety 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.560 research has shown that closing doors can also be life saving, 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.280 especially when getting out in case of fire is not 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.200 an option, so let's introduce a new one, close before 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.360 you doze. We spoke with Jennifer Williams, a marketing specialist 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.080 with the u L Firefighter Safety Research Institute and organization 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.480 that advances fire research knowledge and develops cutting edge practical 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.399 fire service education. She said, we're looking to create a 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.360 generational behavior change of closing doors before you go to 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.200 bed at night. In general, it's not something that people 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.760 think about and they certainly don't correlate doing it to 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.880 fire safety. According to u L, of house fire deaths 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.640 occur between eleven pm and seven am, and of people 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.000 surveyed did not close their bedroom doors at night. You 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.160 might think that a closed door would be no match 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:55.640 for a house fire, but the difference between how a 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.360 room with an open door and a room with a 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.240 closed door survive a fire is dramatic. Smoke moves up 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.600 and out and fills a room from the top down, 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.800 so it reaches the floor last, which means it can't 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.400 seep beneath the door easily. That's why we're taught to 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.600 stay low in the case of a fire. Firefighters have 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:17.600 long understood the benefit of compartmentalizing a fire. Fire needs oxygen, fuel, 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.519 and heat to survive. Thus, if a fire can be compartmentalized, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.840 its spread will slow because it lacks oxygen. If the 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.560 oxygen supply is cut off completely, the fire may even 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.680 go out. If you close your bedroom door at night 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:32.800 and a fire starts in the kitchen while you're sleeping, 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.280 you may have enough time to wake up and figure 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.799 out what to do. This could give you enough time 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.400 to exit the building or call nine one one, but 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:42.320 also might give you a safe place to wait for 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.320 the fire department while those smoke, heat, and toxic fumes 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.239 remain beyond your door. Also, in a bedroom with a 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.360 closed door, even when a fire is raging outside, the 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.480 temperature can remain below a hundred degrees fahrenheit or thirty 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.880 seven celsius, with carbon monoxide levels at one hundred parts 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.880 per million. Compare that to a room with the door open, 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.359 where temperatures can quickly rise above a thousand degrees fahrenheit 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.280 or three seventy seven celsius and carbon monoxide levels become 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.840 extremely toxic at ten parts per million. Of course, though 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.079 if you can get out do Williams says that you 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.679 should actually close as many doors as possible at night. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.959 One reason it's so important is that home fires spread 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:26.960 more quickly today than they used to. Forty years ago, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.480 we had about seventeen minutes to escape a house fire, 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.280 but today that's down to three minutes or less. We 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.840 can thank contemporary building practices and synthetic materials for the change. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.240 So far, the close before you doze campaign is working. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.240 Williams says that Americans who have seen the message say 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.320 they'll close their bedroom doors. The remaining nine percent say 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.400 they won't because they don't want to be separated from 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.080 children or pets. But for those nine percent or anyone 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.760 who occasionally forgets, Williams reminds us that other fire safety 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:01.120 measures are equally important in the home, especially working smoke alarms. 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:03.920 She says every home should have smoke alarms on every 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.720 level of the home and inside and outside of every 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.920 sleeping room. Be sure they're hard wired together so that 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.120 if one goes off, they all do, alerting you to 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.040 a fire anywhere in the home. Ideally, you should check 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.360 them every month. You should also create a fire escape plan. 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:20.960 It should include two ways out of every room and 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.440 a meeting place outside, and you should practice it a 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.479 drill is a great way to teach your children what 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:34.520 your smoke alarms actually sound like. Today's episode was written 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.320 by Dr Carry Whitney and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.559 Stuff is a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.840 For more in this and lons of other home safety topics, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.520 visit our home planet how stuff Works dot com and 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.839 for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.360 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:50.080 favorite shows.