Economics and short-time factors have forced many manufacturers of fire resistive coatings to use small-scale fire tests in accordance with ASTM Standard Method of Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials (E 119-81) time-temperature curve. The difference between small-size and full-size furnaces is not so much in the geometry as it is in the construction. Insulation, burners, and fuel type are influencing factors when making a comparative analysis. The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) used a full-size column furnace and a small-column furnace in one of their programs. The correlation between data was substantial enough to focus the attention on using the small furnace as a valid means of testing.

Within the same scenario of small-scale testing, a high intensity fire test (HIFT) is established to simulate a petroleum spill fire. It is being used by the petrochemical industry and fire resistive coating manufacturers to evaluate materials under reproducible simulated thermal conditions of a petrochemical fire.