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.