Peter Lee from Maplewood (NJ) sent in these photos of a door they ran into while out conducting some district familiarization.

This style of supplemental lock is becoming increasingly poplar for rear door protection on commercial occupancies. There are a number of different manufacturers that are producing this style lock. From the outside it is obvious that this door not only has a locking mechanism on the handle side, but also some hinge side protection. Another important observation is that it appears that all of the supplemental locks are inline with the handle, none high, none low.

The purpose of the hinge side protection is to keep the uneducated burglar from opening the door from the hinge side, not the educated firefighter. Even though for the outside it looks less substantial, the hinge side is definitely the slower option on forcing this door. Traditional forcible entry technique on the lock side of the door with a property placed halligan is more than likely the quickest and most effective way to force this door.

We have shown doors like this in the past, they are not nearly as intimidating as they look. Be sure to use the website’s search function over in the right sidebar to find some similar doors, or click on the category labeled “outside functions.” The purpose of studying different style doors is so we can better identify and visualize what we are facing when confronted with challenges on the fire ground.