You likely already know the basics: install working smoke alarms, create an escape plan, and choose a meeting place outside your home. But there's one more habit worth adding to your fire safety checklist — one that's easy to overlook and takes only a second to do: closing your doors at night.

Why Closing Your Door Matters

Modern homes contain more synthetic materials, furniture, and construction elements than ever before, and research shows this means today's house fires spread faster than fires of previous decades. That extra speed makes every second — and every barrier between you and the fire — count.

A closed door is a surprisingly powerful barrier. Here's what it can do:

It can mean a 900-degree difference. A room with an open door during a fire may reach 1,000°F. The same room with the door closed may stay closer to 100°F.

It cuts down dangerous gases. A closed door can help keep carbon monoxide levels in a room around 1,000 PPM during a fire, compared to as much as 10,000 PPM in a room with the door left open.

It starves the fire of oxygen. Fire needs oxygen to grow. A closed door helps keep oxygen in the room and away from the flames, slowing the fire's spread. This is also why it's important to close the door behind you as you exit a burning building — it helps slow the fire down for anyone still inside or for arriving firefighters.

It protects you while you sleep. About half of all home fire deaths happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Making it a habit to close your bedroom door before bed is one of the simplest ways to protect your household overnight.

Building a Complete Fire Safety Plan

Closing your door is one part of a bigger safety strategy. Here's how to put a complete plan in place.

1. Install and Maintain Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms give you the earliest possible warning of a fire, giving you and your family more time to get out safely.

• Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of your home.
• Test alarms twice a year.
• Replace alarms once they stop working, following the manufacturer's recommendations.
• When buying new alarms, choose products that are third-party listed or certified.

2. Create and Practice a Fire Escape Plan

There won't be time to figure out an escape route once a fire starts — planning has to happen in advance. A complete escape plan includes three parts: Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C.

Plan A: Exit through the closest door, closing it behind you as you leave. Go to your designated meeting place and call 911. Make sure the fire department knows once everyone is accounted for.

Plan B: If you can't safely use the closest door, use a back exit or window instead. Close it behind you if you're able, then head to your meeting place and call 911.

Plan C: If you can't get out at all, get behind a closed door and call 911. Tell the dispatcher exactly where you are in the home and that you cannot get out.

3. Know What to Do If You're Trapped (Plan C in Detail)

If you can't safely exit your home during a fire, follow these steps:

• Get into a room as far from the fire as possible and close the door.
• Call 911. Tell the dispatcher exactly where you are and that you cannot get out.
• Stay low to the floor, where air is clearer.
• Turn on a light in the room if you can, to help rescuers find you.
• Cover cracks around the door with clothes, towels, or drapes to help block smoke.
• Cover air vents if needed.
• If smoke is entering the room and you need air, open the window — starting with the lower pane — to let smoke rise above your head, rather than filling the room where you're standing.
• Stay near the window for fresh air.
• Make yourself known to firefighters when they arrive: wave, signal with a flashlight, or call out for help.

4. Map Your Home and Practice as a Family

A written plan is only useful if everyone in the household knows it. To build yours:

1. Talk it through. Meet with everyone who lives in your home to discuss what to do in a fire emergency, and write the plan down.
2. Draw a map of your home. Include every level, room, window, door, and other exit point.
3. Determine two ways out of every room, along with a backup plan if the primary route is blocked by smoke or fire.
4. Designate an outside meeting place so the fire department can quickly confirm whether everyone made it out.
5. Review and practice the plan with everyone in the household, including overnight guests, until everyone understands Plan A, B, and C.

Make It a Habit Tonight

Fire safety doesn't have to be complicated, but it does require preparation. Tonight, take five minutes to check your smoke alarms, and before you go to bed, close your bedroom door. It's a small step that could make a life-saving difference.

Learn more and start building your family's escape plan at closeyourdoor.org.

Download more information: 

• Close Before You Doze
• Close Your Door Safety Checklist

Source: Close Before You Doze campaign materials, © 2022 Underwriters Laboratories Inc. All rights reserved.