Door wedges or door chocks are an essential part of a firefighter’s tool kit. They prevent doors from closing on the hose, reducing or cutting off water flow.  They prevent self-closing and self-locking doors from swinging shut and trapping a firefighter.

Door wedges are also useful during an evacuation, and for chocking doors open for ventilation.

Door wedges made from molded polymer (thermoplastic) material, such as TPE, have two main advantages over home-made wooden door chocks.

1. The molded material is very sturdy yet pliable, creating an excellent grip on the door and the floor. Wooden wedges may be more difficult to wedge under the door and may be more likely to slide on smooth surfaces.

2. Polymer wedges are lighter than wood, but every bit as sturdy.  For example, the CY Safety Products molded TPE door wedges have an open construction for light weight, combined with three internal support ribs for high structural strength. This makes them effective at chocking open even heavy commercial doors. They’re functional up to 300 degrees F.

The main advantage of wooden door chocks is that you can make them yourself out of scrap wood for practically nothing – IF you don’t consider your time to be valuable. Polymer door wedges cost less than $3 and are guaranteed to not give you slivers.

They are lightweight, sturdy, and available in black or high-visibility yellow.

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