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TheIllustrativeMan t1_ja5b8p7 wrote

Reply to comment by xxxsur in This sign telling you to stay inside the apartment building when the alarm sounds by DeepPossession8916

In the US, high-rise fire stairs are sized based on occupancy, and rated for 2 hours of fire protection. They're also pressurized so that smoke doesn't get into them.

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xxxsur t1_ja5cjde wrote

Curious: Is the apartment doors rated for fire too?

Our(and I believe rest of the world too) fire stairs are protected, but honestly I am not running down so many floors if that's not a big fire... Our buildings are just too stupidly tall

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TheIllustrativeMan t1_ja5layj wrote

Other doors and walls are not rated, though the construction of most walls isn't terribly different from a rated wall - a gyp studwall. Where you lose the rating is penetrations aren't protected, so it's easy for fire to bypass the assembly.

It's not that you run down the stairs so much as a controlled shuffle. The whole point of the fire rating is to give people time, so no need to rush and potentially hurt yourself.

Yeah, it can be a pain when the fire alarm goes off at 3am and you're 40 stories up, but ultimately all of this stuff exists because people died. Take advantage of all the things that make modern buildings safer.

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