On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 01:24:33 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named
"nightjar" randomly hit the
keyboard and produced:

The requirement for fire resistance is not based on how long it takes to
evacuate the compartment under ideal conditions. It is intended to provide
adequate protection for someone trapped inside while the Fire Brigade arrive
and make a search.

The 'period' of fire resistance is more like a relative measure of the
level of protection. A structure or door, etc, which achieves 30
minutes FR in a standard test may last for hours in a real fire, or
may collapse or fail in a shorter time. An extreme example: the WTC
Twin Towers had a period of two hours, but the South tower collapsed
in 56 minutes. The conditions experienced were a lot more severe than
those in a standard test.
--
Hugo Nebula
'What you have to ask yourself is, "if no-one on the internet wants
a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?"'