A simple action like closing your door before going to sleep can prevent a fire from spreading in your home.

According to the UL Fire Safety Research Institute, a closed door can contain the temperature, lower carbon monoxide levels, and slow the fire from spreading. Ainsworth Fire Chief Waylon Schultz says he’s seen the impact of this first hand, “We did recently have a fire in Riverside. The homeowner was away and out of town but had all of his doors shut, and it really did keep the fire spread from going throughout the house. It pretty much contained the fire to just that one room and then the rest of the house just had some smoke damage. It’s kind of unbelievable to us how it held that much fire inside that room without spreading to the rest of the house. It was pretty impressive.”

The UL Fire Safety Research Institute also says that fires spread much faster than they used to. Due to homes having more synthetic materials inside, the average time a person has to escape a home fire is as low as three minutes.