Fire Safes and You: The Benefits of Owning a Fire Safe

Every year an estimated 358,500 home fires cause homeowners to suffer damage and loss. If you stopped to think about it, what are the things in your home so valuable you want them protected from the risk of fire?

Often they’re personal things that you can’t replace with insurance money. You want your personal papers and other items like jewelry and guns protected from fire too.

Have you wondered if you should add a fire safe to your home to protect your most valuable items from the risk of a home fire?

Read on to learn what you should consider when selecting fire safes for the home.

Why Should You Consider a Fire Safe?

In all honesty, there are plenty of homeowners who wonder if they need a safe. Do they have enough valuables to make it worth the investment? They might even wonder where to buy a safe that’s going to be truly fire safe for them.

First, you do need a safe. You probably have more valuables than you really realize.

Home and residential safes are smart for cash, guns, important documents, and family heirlooms. Imagine the thought of losing some of those items.

Also, if you’re any kind of collector and have amassed a valuable collection it should also be protected in a fire safe. Think of everything from coins and stamps to sports cards.

Know the Fire Rating

The most important consideration when looking at fire safes is the fire rating they’ve been assigned. If they don’t come with a fire rating from either Underwriters Laboratories (UL ) or Intertek Laboratories (ETL), they are not a safe you even want to consider.

As you consider a fire safe, start with the ratings from the above organizations. Then you want to compare these ratings against factory testing. You’ll want to look at something called the fire curve which is basically how quickly the temperature rose to its max while being tested.

You’ll also want to consider what type of seals are available on the door of the safe. This will impact its overall fire resistance.

You might also look at how the safe was tested in fire which could be an explosion hazard test, a fire impact test, and a fire endurance test.

All these factors help to define the fire rating a fire safe has earned.

Types of Fire-Rated Safes

The other misnomer that many homeowners might have about getting a safe has to do with size. They might imagine the bank vault safes they’ve seen in movies.

In fact, there are a variety of types of safes that could be both fire safe and still work in your home. Some types include:

  • Pistol boxes
  • Under-the-bed-gun-vaults
  • Wall safes
  • Digital safes
  • Burglary safe
  • Fireproof gun safe

Safes can come with fire protection ratings ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours. As you might infer, the value of the safe (and cost of the safe) do have something to do with its fire rating. Many economically priced fire-rated gun safes offer less protection (typically 30 -45 minutes) when compared to better protected security containers that can withstand the heat for up to 2 hours or more.

Why is this? American Security recognizes that no two environments are alike and prides itself on providing a wide variety of high security and fire protection at every price point to fit any need or budget.

Protect Your Valuables at Home With Fire Safes

You’re probably now seeing the real value in putting fire safes in the home to protect possessions, paperwork, and important personal belongings.

If you want to learn more about options for adding a fire safe to your home, we can help. Contact us today to get started protecting your most important home items from fire risk.

Fontana Gun Safe Manufacturer, American Security, Celebrates 75 Years Of Innovation

Southern California Business is Largest Custom Safe Manufacturer in the United States Shipping 100,000 Products Per Year

FONTANA, CA (August 9, 2021) – American Security, the largest US custom safe manufacturer, today announced the achievement of a major milestone – 75 years of helping people protect what they hold most valuable.

“American Security’s success is a result of 75 years of innovation, customer excellence, accountability and teamwork,“ said CEO, Drew Meng. “Since 1946, American Security has been dedicated to designing and building the best performing high security safes on the market for home and businesses.”

As an industry leading manufacturer of high security safes, American Security holds more than a dozen technology and engineering patents and several industry firsts including the first round door vault (1958), the first domestic-built U.L.-listed TL-15 and TL-30 composite safes (1989), the industry’s first retro-fit group II electronic safe lock (1990), and the first burglary and fire composite gun safe (1999).

Eight years ago, Donny McKay, the company’s VP of Marketing and Engineering, helped American Security enter the smart safe market with CashWizardTM. The CashWizard smart safe is the highest security depository safe of its kind on the market today and provides ultimate visibility into daily cash transactions via integrated cloud-based software that gives treasury and other management suites the ability to remotely manage money from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“CashWizard makes it easier for operators of corporate-owned, and multi-location franchise retailers to manage their safes and cash flow from a far,” said McKay. “Our smart safe solution reduces the number of touchpoints in the cash management process and saves our clients thousands in labor costs.”

Since CashWizard’s launch, major brands and independent retailers have come aboard. American Security’s line of smart safes operates in every industry and every corner of the US and Canada.

More industry firsts and patents can be viewed on their website https://americansecuritysafes.com where the company has created an engaging multimedia timeline to celebrate their diamond anniversary.

To celebrate 75 years as one of the most prolific safe manufactures in North America, American Security has many activities planned to engage customers, partners and employees including a limited edition of diamond anniversary gun safes which will debut at the 2022 Shot Show in Las Vegas next year. The company plans to celebrate their success with its stakeholders for a full year starting this month and concluding in August of next year.

“Our mission has always been to help others protect what they hold most valuable, because what matters most to them, matters most to us,“ added Meng. “The honor and prestige that comes with celebrating 75 years in business is owned by every one of our dedicated and hardworking team members who take pride in creating the best possible experience with our brand for the consumer.”

American Security employs more than 200 people and is currently hiring for several positions. Steady growth has necessitated the company’s relocation four times in its 75-year history, taking the safe manufacturer from Compton to Paramount, to Irwindale and Fontana. As a result of the events that unfolded in our nation last year, and more than five million new gun owners entering the market, the company saw a significant boost in gun safe sales and it hasn’t slowed down.

“American Security has been around for 75 years and that tells me they’re not going to disappear overnight. Today there are so many overseas products and fly-by-night online retailers – they’re just there to make a buck, they’re not in it for the long haul. We’re not comfortable carrying products from those guys.  American Security makes me feel comfortable as a retailer – I can count on them to be around for a long time,” commented David Ballestrausse, Vice President, Northwest Safe.

Select more than one item for comparison.