The fire and life safety of your building and occupants rest on your selection of the proper fire-rated discharge door. Both the building codes and the NFPA require all shafts to be protected with fire-rated doors. This includes the bottom of the chute. Don’t be fooled by other manufacturer’s statements that their type “A” discharge is of “fire-rated construction.” It doesn’t matter how it’s constructed, to be fire rated it must bear a UL LABEL. Western Chutes® type “AC” horizontal discharge door and type “H” vertical hopper style are both 1-1/2 hour UL “B” labeled doors meeting all the code requirements and recommendations of the NFPA.
NFPA #82 Recommendation excerpt: 3-2.2.9 Chute Discharge Doors. Gravity chutes shall be constructed so that the base opening of the chute or shaft, or both, shall be protected by an approved automatic-closing or self-closing 1-hour fire door suitable for a Class B opening.

