Is there really a fireproof safe?

[AL45]

I talked to 2 gentleman who helped with the cleanup of the recent Colorado fire and asked them about the safes they encountered. To their knowledge, of the safes they knew about, no contents survived. I did a brief internet search, and apparently guns in safes do not fare well in house fires. One 18 year veteran fireman said he had only seen 2 guns survive and that is because the safes fell through the floor into the basement. Maybe they should be called "heat resistant" instead of fireproof.

[Louca]

From Wikipedia,

A fire-resistant safe is a type of safe that is designed to protect its contents from high temperatures or actual fire. Fire resistant safes are usually rated by the amount of time they can withstand the extreme temperatures a fire produces, while not exceeding a set internal temperature, e.g., less than 350 °F (177 °C) over 30 minutes. Models are typically available between half-hour and four-hour durations.

One thing I know from personal experience - they are HEAVY.

Lou

[allaroundhunter]

No gun safe claims to be fireproof indefinitely (at least none that I know of). When you purchase a gun safe it will tell you what it is rated for.

The biggest problems is that oftentimes is takes longer to put out the fire than the safe can protect the contents.

Here is an example:



I keep my safe closer to an outside wall so that if there is a fire, it will remain cooler than if it was in the middle of the house and in the middle of the blaze.

When choosing a place for a safe, you really should consider where, in the event of a fire, it would best survive.

[Kreyzhorse]

No gun safe claims to be fireproof indefinitely

+1.

I've never seen a "fireproof" safe for sale. They are rated for both temperature and the amount of time they can handle that temperature.

[a1abdj]

I rarely see gun safes meet the minimum of performing as advertised. Do not count on a typical gun safe to protect from fire. They simply are not designed to do the job.

UL rated fire safes are tested to much higher standards, and will perform as advertised. The problem is that some of these crazy fires exceed the temperature and times the safes are rated for.

In high fire risk areas, the basement is probably not a bad location to place a safe.

[Shane Tuttle]

AL45,

I highly recommend researching a1adbj's posting history. You'll find a wealth of spot-on information regarding the very subject you raise as well as other facts/figures/myths of safes in general. He knows what he's talking about and the information will definitely help educate you if you're ever in the market for one.

[kilimanjaro]

If you want fireproof, clean your chimney, update your home electrical panel, and put your guns in a concrete room.

Chimney cleaning and updating the panel will probably be the best things you can do.

[dwwhite]

I got some advice on this subject from a locksmith acquaintance of mine.
As a1adbj has already mentioned, he recommended a safe that has been UL listed for fire protection. In my research, I've found plenty that have manufacturers or trade organization fire ratings, but very few are UL listed.

Another option, one that I intend to pursue for my next safe, is a used data safe. Typically these are designed to maintain interior temps under 200 degrees and interior humidity levels under 80% or so in the event of a catastrophic fire. They are designed to protect hard drives, floppy discs and tape drives (remember those?)

Used, they can typically be found at reasonable prices but you'll often be required to move them. A data safe that's big enough for a reasonably sized gun collection is generally measured in tons, so that's not a small undertaking. But, they seem to offer the ultimate in fire protection.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

the ultimate in fire protection is an independent fire safe room

[jclayto]

I lost my home last year to a fire. The safe was located on the main floor of a single story home and the fire gutted my attic with significant smoke and and water damage to the living area. The safe was not exposed to flame but judging from some items that were in the vicinity of the safe, the location was very hot during the blaze. The fire department was able to distinguish the fire within 30 minutes of the initial call for help and within the 45 minute rating on the safe. I am happy to report that the safe contents escaped damage including smoke and water damage. I am currently using the safe and I do wonder if the exposure to extreme temperatures may have altered the safe in a way that it would not have the same fire resistance in the future? I also wonder if the contents would have survived had the safe been engulfed in flame? Hopefully these are questions I will never need to know the answer to.

Are any safes fireproof? I am not sure and will leave that answer to the experts. Is a typical mid grade safe with a 45 minute fire rating useful? Yes! I have no idea how it would have performed in a fully engulfed environment but it did it's job well enough in my situation.

[a1abdj]

You can easily tell if the safe itself was exposed to extreme heat by looking at the dial or keypad. The keypads will melt before dials will, but the dials are made of a soft alloy with a fairly low melting point.

If you were able to just walk up and get into your safe after a fire, it didn't get "that" hot. Not to say it wasn't exposed to several hundred degrees, but not enough heat that it would have had an adverse effect on the safe or its contents. I don't know at what temperature the insulation of the safe begins its transformation, but I would bet that it would be below the point of the dial melting, perhaps above that of the keypad.

Either way, we tend to discard safes after any sign that they were exposed to heat, and replace them with something new. Just in case.