A US Fire Department has taken to Facebook to warn unsuspecting parents about the little known dangers of leaving children's doors ajar at night.
The emergency responders understood that doors are sometimes left open at night to help kids feel safer when alone in their beds - but stressed that keeping the bedroom door closed could be the difference between life and death.
The post said: "As a parent it's hard to convince little kids to sleep with the door closed, they always want it open just a little.
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"I do a lot of fire prevention at schools, so one thing I try and stress to the kids is, how important it is to sleep with the doors closed."
The post on the The Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department 's page apparently via the Town of Newfairfield's Fire Marshals office included a photo of a bedroom door from the inside and the outside - and the pictures speak for themselves about how the move could save a child's life.
The outside of the door is blackened and scorched while, despite some slight charring around the door frame, the inside of the door remains white and relatively undamaged. It's hard to imagine it's two sides of the same door.
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They wrote about the photo: "The photos below are a great example of the importance of keeping bedroom doors closed while sleeping.
"The door pictured in both photos is a hollow core door to a bedroom.
"While the front of the door is severely damaged the closed door protected the bedroom and its contents.
"If this were an occupied bedroom the closed door could have saved a life."
The photos were taken after a real house fire with permission from the family who lived there and the reassurance from the firemen that the homeowners and their dog are all doing well.
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The post has gone viral since it was posted last week. And with 1.6k reactions and 5, 438 shares at the time of writing, it would appear it's doing the job of raising awareness of the safety issue.
Over 580 people have commented on the post.
Some people thanked the fire department for sharing the photos and the message it gave: "thx...will pass to my kids and grandkids!"
A second person commented: "Thanks for sharing a pic truly worth a thousand words."
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And a third wrote: "This is important info, generally unrecognised."
Others stressed the importance of a smoke alarm and having a pre-planned escape route: "This is true, a close [sic] door will give the occupants more time, but a WORKING fire alarm and knowing how to check the door and how to get out through a window is all apart of doing fire drills at home".
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash