This paper presents several case-studies on a mid-rise (10 story) steel building subjected to compartment fire conditions and compares the results to understand the factors that can trigger and precipitate the collapse in a typical steel building. The study makes specific recommendations to reduce the risk of fire induced disproportionate collapse of steel structures. A 10 story steel building is designed following the current design specifications for a building located in the moderate seismic zone. Lateral load resistance (wind and earthquake) is provided by using moment resisting frames (MRFs) on the perimeter or a rigid elevator shaft at the center of the building. The Eurocode based parametric fire time-Temperature (T-t) curves are used to develop a representative fire loading. All the structural components are fire-protected according to the applicable building design codes. All the structural components, namely, steel columns, composite floor systems and connections are modeled in an FEM based software using macro level elements. The models were validated for accuracy and applicability in fire conditions against experimental data. The fire effects are simulated by assigning the precalculated temperature field for different structural components. Explicit dynamic analysis scheme used for predicting building collapse behavior includes the effects of degradation in material properties at elevated temperatures, concrete cracking, thermal strains, and plastic deformations in steel and concrete, etc. Some of the preliminary findings indicate that: (1) if all the components are designed for same level of fire safety, gravity columns are most likely to fail first in a typical steel building. (2) After a column fails, the load can be redistributed to the neighboring columns through a combination of flexural and catenary action in the floor system. (3) Reinforcement in the floor system can play an important role in safely redistributing the loads to the neighboring columns. © ASCE 2012.