Shocking video shows simple step that could help save your child's life: 'Close before you doze'
By Naomi White|
I?f you have small children, it's likely that the bedroom doors in your home are rarely fully closed.
Whether it be to hear if your kids cry out at night, or to make it easier for them to crawl into your bed without waking you up.
And if you have teens? They'll no doubt have theirs closed tight, but leave the rest of them wide open. And no one would have given it a second thought.
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A shocking video shared to TikTok however, has shown just how vital this one step can be in saving your life in the event of a fire.
Posted by user @smokemedic, the video starts by panning around a child's bedroom. While the walls and furniture are perfectly intact, it's a very different scene on the other side of the bedroom door.
The door opens to a hallway that's stained black from smoke, with the ceiling burnt back to the frame. Debris can also be seen scattered across an adjoining room.
"Remember to close bedroom doors before sleeping for the night, it could make a big difference," he captioned the video?, which has been viewed more than 8.5 million times.
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Many followers said although they could see the difference it made, they were too anxious to sleep with their doors closed.
"?My kids do but my anxiety doesn't let me close mine just to be sure my kids are ok," said one. "I thought I was the only one who HAD TO sleep with the door open because of her kids. TikTok bringing anxious moms together," agreed another.
However, others said no reason was worth skipping this step. "?It's simply amazing the amount of people that can see this over and over and still come up with an excuse to not close doors," said one. "New fear unlocked," declared another. ?
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For one woman, doing this had allowed her to escape from a housefire unscathed. "?Having my bedroom door closed saved my life. My whole apartment was engulfed in flames," she said.
Others went even further with fire safety. "We sleep with doors closed and I have monitors in kids rooms. All our fire alarms are wired together so if one goes off they all do," said one.
And those with firefighters in the family said there was no choice in the matter.?
"Husband is a firefighter. He always makes all of us sleep with all the doors closed. Most doors are safe from fire for about an hour of burning," one woman admitted. "Dad was a firefighter and would have a conniption if we didn't have our doors closed," agreed another.
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