GAINING ACCESS THROUGH OUTWARD SWINGING DOORS WITH PANIC HARDWARE

GAINING ACCESS THROUGH OUTWARD SWINGING DOORS WITH PANIC HARDWARE

Often time’s outward swinging doors can pose a problem when trying to gain access. Quite often these doors do not have any locking mechanism exposed to the exterior and a latch guard covers the locking points. One nearly sure way in is to follow the steps below:

1. Using a Cut off saw with a steel cutting wheel make a vertical cut just above the midpoint in the door. (Preferably a 14 inch steel cutting wheel like the Tiger Tooth or equivalent.)
2. Next insert a carpenter’s square into the cut and pull the panic hardware, which will unlock the door.
3. If the door has some sort of burglar bar you can still use this method and lift the bar out of the way or bury the saw and cut the bar. With limited manpower available, 1 firefighter can gain access to an outward swinging door rather quickly. This may be a good procedure to consider for Rapid Assistance Teams gaining access to rear doors in strip malls and other commercial entrances. 
   
   Josh