Gunther, these guys are way off base.
The fire proofing of the wall is pretty much as you stated (and a little more depending on the circumstances) with in 24" of other openings.
The phone, data, or what have you would also need to be protected if they created a big enough break in the membrane.
If you can ask them what code they are enforcing with out making big headaches for yourself I would like to know what it is, then we could counter.
Roger
