Matt Stelle and Rick Dunn from the Loveland-Symmes (OH) Station 61 sent in these pictures of something they recently found during a pre-plan of a new building in their first due. It’s simply an interior outward swinging door. A general tip is that doors swing toward life. So more than likely an outward swinging door like this leads to a mechanical or storage room.
Once the door is opened, it becomes obvious that it is an attic access door. But look close at the floor; there is nothing more than blown-in insulation and the drywall ceiling below, there is no floor. Under smoke conditions the floor surface, or lack thereof, may not be noticeable. Hopefully the vertical 2×4 (part of the truss assembly) would alert us that something wasn’t right.
Keep in mind that stating inward or outward can mean different things to different people. A more simple way of relay a doors swing is by stating that a door swings either toward you or away. This is something we are trying to use to cut down on the confusion. Some may say an inward swinging door is one that swings into the room and others may say inward door is one that swings in toward you.
This is why we probe with our tool as we go.
good catch, this shows the importance of a good pre-plan.
Good catch! Generally doors that open toward you open into areas that are not designed for human occupancy, i.e. mechanical rooms, janitors closets, and in older occupancies ELEVATOR SHAFTS. Stay safe out there Brothers.
Thats a great catch. Thank you for sharing.
Helps show us why it is so important to pre plan and use basic training (use of a tool to sound the floor ahead of you.)
Stay safe.
~Egan
Honestly… Never heard the thought of “doors swing to life”, great rule of thumb! Also a good catch on the lack of floor. In zero visibility it isn’t going to hurt to give the floor a tap or two before stepping out into the abyss between rooms and doorways. Thanks
Evan said “probe”
This is common in Central Texas with the builder “Newmark”.
Never hurts to probe with your tool !!! Booo yaaaa LOL,, Probe and tap probe and tap
in search efforts, make sure you probe first, the last thing you wanna do is go to tap, and have a victim get hit with a haligan or axe.
No donkey punch yet???? Good catch, just goes to show you what we are behind. Adz’s and pick down will save your life while searching.
NN234, I said that exact thing! (In my head, not out loud)
When conducting a search using the Halligan, it’s helpful to slide the tool with the adz forward and on the floor…this causes the handle of the tool to angle upward. When the adz slides off the edge of a hole the tool falls onto your fingers creating an ahh haa moment that may serve as your first and last warning of an imminent tumble!
Ooooppps! Sorry, didn’t seem the exact same suggestion from NN234.
I just sent that tip in yesterday! We all think alike, which is either awesome or scary.
was the remote in there?
Jeez Riley, you haven’t found that thing yet?!?
Never found it so I bought a new one. I just want to know what happened to it. Kinda like those 3 bowling balls that were left here that one time.
So true, a good pre-plan and use your tool as a saftey guide(or to smack the rats up there)
To say a door opens toward life is very misleading. There are many reasons that the door to any given area may open one way or the other. Many doors from large occupany areas such as class rooms open outward (into the hall) This would be contrary to the Doors open toward life thought. In many homes a door may not open into a small bathroom to save space. In many older homes a door which leads to an attic stair case may swing out, these attics are often finished into lofts or apartments. Just dont become complacent.
I see this as a bigger problem when there is no big fire, a lite smoke condition and 3 am. It seems when there is big fire, high heat or anything else, our situational awareness is up and it would be an easy catch. It seems like the “nothing” call is where we get lax and want to hurry up and get back to bed.
We have a new building with the same construction that went up in our district. It was a big suprise when we were there on a fire alarm.
I like the thought of attempting to simplify this confusing topic. Unfortunately there are several factors that go into the reason for door swing direction. The Building Code has provisions that require a door to swing in the direction of egress travel when the occupant load of a room or space is determined to be 50 or greater. If the occupant load for the room or space is determined to be less than 50 the designer/owner can choose which way the door swings. It is common for the door from a mechanical or electrical room to swing toward the corridor or common area… not the rule.
Pre-planning is vital. Please consider that a building a occupant/owner can change doors after taking occupancy. At this point all the rules mentioned above go out the window. As stated above, don’t become complacent.