My dad was a fire fighter and said not to live past a certain # of floors because firefighter ladders don't go higher than that. I can't remember the # of floors he said. Something around 10.
Also another firefighter told me that the safest place in a burning building is the emergency stairwells, they're rated for fire and they have these pressure systems that suck all the smoke out the top of the stairwell, he said you could safety stay in there for hours during a fire. I didn't believe him.