The pathways that carry cabling in most buildings can be composed of hundreds to thousands of strands of cable, much of which is unused legacy cable. This unused legacy cable builds up with each installation of newer computer and communication systems.
The plenum ceiling of a typical 100 workstation office using combustible "exception" cabling can contain the equivalent of 150 gallons of gasoline.
Fast Facts:
A hook-up for one desk with combustible "exception" cabling has the equivalent fuel load of 1.5 gallons of gasoline.
Combustible “exception” cable can generate 800% more smoke than wood, which would seriously impair the visibility of fire fighters or escaping office workers in the event of a fire.
Combustible “exception” cable can burn 1,000 degrees centigrade — which is hot enough to weaken structural steel.
