Flashover is visually stunning, but rare these days. Building codes should in most cases prevent it from occurring, at least in non-residential buildings (insid

Flashover is visually stunning, but rare these days. Building codes should in most cases prevent it from occurring, at least in non-residential buildings (inside homes it's another matter, as there is often more combustible material than in office buildings). Even if it does happen, it requires a fire to be going on for quite a while already (pyrolysis isn't instantaneous), so everyone inside that room is either a firefighter or already dead, so I don't think training every citizen to recognise it is of much value. At work I'm one of the people responsible for evacuating employees and our only responsibility is evacuation, calling the fire department and trying to extinguish small fires (e.g. a burning waste basket, however that may happen). Anything leading to a flashover is something we should never get close to. As for the drills, you should make it clear to everyone that getting outside (or behind the nearest fireproof door) is their top priority. Hallways are going to be impassable (without passing out at least) after about three minutes, so 15 is definitely too long. I'd probably try to talk to each one of those people you're describing and make sure they understand what they're doing in that case. While they may not value their life much, their employer is on the line if they die during a fire.