FDNY urges people to keep doors closed after several deadly fires
While fire marshals continue to investigate those cases, officials say they’ve seen enough to know that limiting the spread of a fire can be done when doors are closed.
More Stories
After weeks of deadly fires across the city, the FDNY has a message for New Yorkers — close your doors.
"Close before you doze" is a phrase fire officials say everyone should live by. In other words, closing all the doors in your apartment before you head to sleep could be the key to saving a life.
“Please close the door when there’s a fire in your building,” said FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Dan Flynn. “Close every door possible, every door in a public hallway, every door in your building, every door to your apartment.”
A deadly fire in Belmont two weeks ago killed two teenagers, left nearly a dozen people injured and left dozens more without a home.
This week in Mott Haven, another person died from a separate fire.
And a fatal fire in East Flatbush claimed the lives of an 80-year-old mother and her 59-year-old son back in April.
While fire marshals continue to investigate those cases, officials say they’ve seen enough to know that limiting the spread of a fire can be done when doors are closed.
“We’ve seen it at Twin Parks,” said Flynn. “We’ve seen it at Prospect Avenue in the Bronx. Prospect resulted in 13 deaths, Twin Parks resulted in 17 deaths. If not for an open door, I am confident that nobody would have died.”
Fire officials say it’s not just the flames that make these fires so deadly.
An open door can allow toxic smoke and deadly gases to spread throughout a building in a matter of minutes.
