Fire Door Latching - During/After the Fire

[LGreene]

Sorry - 2 questions in one day that I need help with. I recently received a question about why doors with fire exit hardware don't open during the hose-stream portion of a fire test (or when hit by a hose stream in an actual fire). The reason is because the latching hardware basically fuses in the latched position when heated to somewhere around 1000 degrees, depending on the component.

I posted about it on iDigHardware, including a photo of fire exit hardware after the fire test. Someone asked how this affects firefighter access. I wouldn't think that at that point the doors would be expected/needed to operate normally, but I'm wondering if any of you have experience with this.

The information is here: https://idighardware.com/2018/09/fire-door-latching-after-the-fire/.

Thanks!
- Lori

 

[Builder Bob]

The time of arrival for the fire department is usually after the fire door has done it's duty to allow people to escape (priority #1) and then slow or prevent the spread of fire and/or smoke to other areas of the building (Priority #2).

The exposure of heat with the rapid cooling( contraction) of materials when hit by a will often warp or alter the finished state of the installation. Firefighters are equipped with tools and often have specialize firefighters assigned to perform the job of truckies (ventilation, forcible, entry, rescue,etc.)

Access to burned areas of a building are secondary to the primary priority of saving lives.

A fire department's mission or purpose is to save lives, then perform property conservation -

(Regardless of what insurance companies think.)

 

[LGreene]

That's what I thought, Builder Bob, so thanks for confirming!