Backward Door

Lt. Tim Moody from Marion County (FL) Engine 11 sent in this door he and the crew found during some pre-planning. From the outside the door doesn't look like anything special, but if that was the case it wouldn't have ended up here.

This business had been burglarized twice, with this door being the point of entry. Both times the burglars used a sledge to defeat the doorknob. The business owner decided to modify the door in an attempt to prevent another break in. First step, hang the door backward so the knob is on the hinge side. That should confuse everyone. The next step was to fabricate a steel dropbar assembly with no obvious signs from the outside.

The homemade dropbar brackets are cut into and welded into the existing door frame. Leaving no visible signs from the outside. The dropbar and brackets are fabricated from 1/2" steel.

Neither one of the business owners fixes should be too much of a problem for us, the main issue is simply knowing that they are present. No matter what supplemental security gets added, we only have to defeat the weakest link. It goes back to the whole Identify and Visualize principle we have always advocated.