I find the idea that balloon (rather than platform) framing was part of the heating design of a house a little hard to take. The moment we could switch to platform framing, almost everybody did (not least because shorter studs were cheaper). But a balloon framed house with a fire that escaped the fireplace is going to burn only slightly faster than a platform framed house, and the main determinant is not going to be the framing but things like fire-resistant doors and wall finishes.