Fire Doors

Fire doors save lives: keeping your door closed will help keep you safe from fire and smoke. 

  • A fire can spread in less than three minutes, and the simple act of shutting a door can stop fire and smoke from spreading to other areas, especially hallways and stairs in apartment buildings. 
  • Your unit's front door is a fire door, which is a door with a fire resistance rating (or a fire protection rating). It has been designed to reduce the spread of fire and smoke between separate areas of a building to give you and your family more time to escape during a fire. 
  • Do not prop your unit or the building's door open for any reason. In the event of a fire, smoke and flames spread quickly and keeping doors closed can save your life. 
  • Doors leading to stairwells must be kept closed at all times to prevent the spread of smoke and fire. 
  • If you are fleeing a fire in your home or apartment, remember to close the door to reduce the spread of fire that will threaten other occupants as well as your possibility of safe escape.  

Remember, a door can: 

  • Stop a fire from growing and spreading. 
  • Help keep smoke and heat away from you and your family 
  • Help keep your home safe. 
  • Keep the temperature down to protect you during a fire 
  • Save your life. 

Remember, it is against the law to keep fire doors propped open and to tamper with fire safety devices, such as smoke alarms.