FIRE MARSHAL INFORMATION
 History has shown us time and time again that people's lives are lost when emergency exit doors do not open with a single code compliant motion. Time is critical when a fire breaks out as smoke quickly spreads, panic follows and the emergency exit light becomes a beacon of safety to the fleeing crowd. Unfortunately all too often these doors are secured by auxiliary locking devices such as slide bolts, hasps, bars and deadbolt locks. Newspapers tell the tale of Firemen finding dead bodies stacked up at emergency exits that prevent the doors from opening when the doors are illegally secured. Why are extra illegal locks added to emergency exits? Unfortunately most exit door locks provide little or no security against forced entry. Business owners lose sleep over the vulnerability of their inventory due to the back door being "popped" open by a six-inch crowbar. a thief can open the door in minutes and still have enough time to make off with large amounts of inventory before the Police arrive. A large chain store in California was losing up to $50,000 per break-in.
What if these Locks are only used at night? Ask any Fire Marshal and they will tell you that many times the locks that are only to be used at night are still left on the door at 2:00 in the afternoon. Firemen responding to fires at night often lose their original way into the building (e.g. collapse of a ceiling) and have to rely on an auxiliary way out. Once again the emergency exit becomes the means of egress and the Fireman is trapped and dies. |
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