April 27, 2007
Why Fire Safes are not always “fireproof”
The majority of safe manufacturers list their safes as “fire resistant” instead of fireproof. There is a good reason for this. In order for a fire safe to successfully resist fire, the special composite material sandwiched between the outer and inner metal walls gives off moisture. This creates steam inside of the safe. The steam (according to the Law of Physics) will not go any higher than 350 degrees farenheit. Therefore, the fire labels on all fire safes state the length of time tested and that the safe will maintain a temperature of 350 degrees farenheit or less.
In making the safe, the manufacturer has to insure that the “steam” created by the composite fire retardant material will be released from the safe. So… safes by the nature of the engineering are not air tight. They can’t be… because they have to release the steam created inside of the safe while the fire is raging outside.
This is why most safe manufacturers do NOT state that their safe is “fireproof”. The companies who have been making safes for many years such as Schwab, FireKing, and AMSEC will state, “fire resistant” rather than fireproof.
The safe will still protect your paper documents, however, when the fire retardant, composite material runs out of moisture (usually after the 1 hour, 1.5 hours or 2 hours that it is rated for), the safe will no longer resist the fire. Fortunately, most fires that burn without any water being poured on them will run out of material to burn at high temperatures within the first hour. It all depends on what type of material is burning and how much of this material is available. Check with your local Fire Department to get advice on how long of a fire rating your safe should have. We recommend a minimum of a 1 hour fire rating for any fire or burglar fire safe. If you budget can afford it a 2 hour fire rating is better.
