What's everyone's opinion about this? My WHOLE life I was told 'don't sleep with your door locked because if there's a fire, you'll be trapped in there'. Really? How? If there's a fire and the door's locked, I just have to pull the latch up and the door will open. And the only way I can be trapped would be if the fire is right by the door in which case you'd be trapped anyway. Personally, I don't get it, does anyone else?

Not sure but I think the fire could melt the metal, or at the least the lever can become too hot to touch when trying to open it. I'm all for closing my door shut at night, but I really have no reason to lock it.

Well the doorknob's made out of metal too but nobody ever says anything about that.

Never heard that, I sleep with my door locked. Something I've always done.

I'm assuming bedroom door.

Front and back doors to the house ALWAYS get locked too. Are you referring to the main doors of your house/apt too?

It's not that you'll be the one trapped inside. It's that your bedroom window may be the emergency escape route so people can't get in (to get out). If your door knob gets so hot that you can't touch it, being locked won't make a difference.

I always go to bed with my bedroom door locked, its a habit I brought over from childhood. If I need to escape I can go through one of the windows. If there was a fire near the door I would on reflex grab a blanket or something before I touched the door knob or unlocked it. Besides if its that hot means the fire is close by the door and I would not be able to get out that way.

Alan Smithee wrote:

It's not that you'll be the one trapped inside. It's that your bedroom window may be the emergency escape route so people can't get in (to get out). If your door knob gets so hot that you can't touch it, being locked won't make a difference.

Well that is not my case because nobody in this family ever plans to go out a second floor window in case of a fire, especially since all bedrooms have direct access to the stairs.

Supernova wrote:

Well that is not my case because nobody in this family ever plans to go out a second floor window in case of a fire, especially since all bedrooms have direct access to the stairs.

That's fine. Push your dresser up aginst the door too and baracade yourself in while you're at it . I've never lived in an apartment or house that had locks on a bedroom door. I've got more to worry about than fire if I feel the need to lock my bedroom door to keep something out.

Supernova wrote:

What's everyone's opinion about this? My WHOLE life I was told 'don't sleep with your door locked because if there's a fire, you'll be trapped in there'. Really? How? If there's a fire and the door's locked, I just have to pull the latch up and the door will open. And the only way I can be trapped would be if the fire is right by the door in which case you'd be trapped anyway. Personally, I don't get it, does anyone else?

Actually I never heard that. When it comes to fire safety, I don't see much difference between locking and just closing. Maybe the people who told you that just didn't want you to lock your door?

Jason B. wrote:

Actually I never heard that. When it comes to fire safety, I don't see much difference between locking and just closing. Maybe the people who told you that just didn't want you to lock your door?

Eh, maybe, I know it certainly wasn't for the reason they'd have to come into my room to get out, because when I was a little kid when they first started saying that, I had a large window unit fan bolted into my window, there would've been no getting out that in a hurry for anything.

Supernova wrote:

Eh, maybe, I know it certainly wasn't for the reason they'd have to come into my room to get out, because when I was a little kid when they first started saying that, I had a large window unit fan bolted into my window, there would've been no getting out that in a hurry for anything.

Then maybe if you slept in a room with a large, unobstructed window they wouldn't have told you not to lock your door. Was the door lock one of those that if the key was removed, the door was locked from both sides? That would make sense but with modern locks the hazard is still greater for the people outside the room.