When a normal safe is placed in a fire it’s resistance to the heat will not be very long. The flames will heat up the metal casing very rapidly and turn the safe into a cooker in no time at all. Papers, media and cash will all be burnt within a short period of time. This is why you need a specially built fireproof safe.

A fireproof safe is specially designed to be resistant to the heat. This special design allows it to withstand being engulfed by flames from 30 minutes all the way up to 4 hours depending on the model. The longer the safe is able to be resistant to the flames the more expensive the safe generally is. So it’s important to think about where the location of the safe will be in the house.

You must also decide what type of media you will be storing. You can get two different types of fireproof safe: a data fireproof safe and a document or paper fireproof safe. Data fireproof safes tend to be more expensive because the inside temperature must not rise above 52°C otherwise the CD’s and DVD’s would be destroyed. A document fireproof safe on the other hand is able to withstand temperatures of 177°C, therefore it is cheaper but only paper documents should be stored inside it.

It is also highly recommended that the contents inside a fireproof safe are placed within a waterproof bag. This is because when the fire services hose down your building to put out the flames the safe is likely to be soaked with water. As fireproof safes are not built to withstand water this could damage the items placed inside.

Also remember that a fireproof safe doesn’t only protect your items from fire. It’s designed to be resistant to burglary as well, the difference between a traditional safe and a fireproof safe simply being that you have to pay more for one to be resistant to fire as well.

If you do decide to have a fireproof safe then it’s absolutely necessary that you have some type of plan. If you’re buying a fireproof safe then you’ll want to have a fire alarm placed somewhere inside the building as well. Once this alarm sounds you need to know which items you will immediately place inside the fireproof safe for safe keeping. An even better idea is to make backups of your must important documents and data and store the originals inside the fireproof safe. Therefore if a fire does strike when you’re away you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your valuables are protected.