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Honestly, these doors are terrible. I just moved out of an apartment building where they were for some reason required and everything from carrying in furniture to carrying in groceries. I know this is extremely tangential, but if anyone can speak to exactly how/why these are supposed to improve outcomes in the event of a fire, I'd love to hear it.

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They compartmentalize whatever fire may occur, so that it doesn't quickly spread down the hallways and corridors. They also serve as barriers to smoke.

The cheap way of doing this is to have self-closing doors that remain shut all the time. Hospitals and other high-traffic locations will have door holds that keep the doors open unless the fire alarm is tripped. When an alarm occurs, the door holds release and the fire doors close.

FWIW, door stops work quite well.

My residence hall (we don't really say "dorm" in the UK any more) had these "expensive" things to hold the doors open, back in the early 2000s. It's an electromagnet connected to the fire alarm system; the door has a metal plate.

This is a safety improvement, because it avoids people propping doors open with wedges, chairs or fire extinguishers.

All the halls had them, as well as many doors in the academic buildings, whether they were new buildings or renovated 19th century buildings.

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