Preventing house fires: How closing doors help prevent flames from spreading

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - January is the busiest time for house fires. Many of those fires start at night when everyone is asleep.

When a fire breaks out in a home, those inside have to act quickly.

"We know these fires burn hotter and faster now than they did 20 years ago because of the synthetic materials that make up the living areas of most homes," said Nick Danz of Cobb County Fire.

Cobb County Fire officials talked about safety measures we all need to take. They urge everyone not to leave anything unattended on the stove, have a screen in front of your fireplace, and make sure there's nothing combustible within three feet of a space heater.

They also say when you go to sleep, make sure you "close before you doze".

"Closing your bedroom doors before you go to bed at night is imperative because it keeps the toxic gases out of the sleeping quarters," said Danz.

Why should you close your bedroom doors at night?

Firefighters demonstrated why this is so important. With the help of Paul Davis Restoration and Lowe's, they built a structure with two identical bedrooms separated by a living room.

When a fire is started in the living room and begins to spread, the bedroom with an open door quickly fills up with smoke. There's much less smoke in the room with the closed door.

"It keeps the smoky material in the area where the smoke alarms are, so that wakes you up sooner," said Danz.

The sooner you wake up from the smoke alarm going off, the faster you can get safely out of the house and call 911.

Once firefighters put the blaze out, the difference between the two bedrooms was clearly visible. The room with the open door had heavy smoke damage, the room with the closed door had very little.

"Closing that door makes a huge difference. That, in conjunction with working smoke alarms, having an evacuation plan, all of these things give residents the highest probability of surviving a fire," said Danz.