As you already know, compartmentation of a building is one of the key elements
to keeping ANY fire under control. At Yale Univ, ALL stairwell doors / student
suite doors are rated and have automatic door self closures on them. This is a
clear requirement of NFPA101 for the occupancy. It is also written into our
undergraduate regulations that they are not allowed to tamper with door self
closures. The fine is $100 per occupant. We have had good compliance with this.
We also had a multi million dollar fire loss because a student disabled their
door closure, had a fire caused by a candle, as the student fled from their
room, the door did not close behind them, minutes later the fire flashed over
in the room, moved into the hallway and into a library, causing significant
damage before it was extinguished by the New Haven FD. There was no loss of
life. At the time, this building did have an AFA, but no sprinklers. Had this
door closed behind the student, I feel the fire would have been contained in
the room.







Michael Fox
Dep. Fire Inspector
Yale University
Office of the Fire Marshal
314 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06515
voice: 203-432-9924
fax: 203-432-8937
email: [log in to unmask]