Did You Know: Not All Fire Safes Protect Your Most Precious and Sensitive Valuables

Not all fireproof safes are created equal. Gone are the days where the only “important” things that went inside them were paper documents, such as birth certificates, wills, deeds, and more.

These days people put all sorts of things in them, from photographs (my wife is super guilty of this) to digital media such as CD backups and USB drives (my weakness).

Since paper has a higher burning point than plastics fire safes didn’t need to be as good at keeping the inside temperatures down. With plastics being added to the mix, fire safes needed to be better able to keep the internal temperatures lower.

In fact, the difference between a “regular” fireproof safe and a media/data safe is stated here:

“A standard fireproof safe will protect anything made of paper such as money, documents, and folders. A media safe will protect anything made of plastic, anything containing magnetic or digital information, photographs, or basically anything that is not made of paper. Data Safes are used primarily for DLT, LTO, and other backup tapes.”

Moreover, here’s the difference in temperature rating and the lower the better as stated here:

“A “standard” fireproof product is said to be rated at 350 degrees. This is the temperature at which paper can begin to become damaged. These are therefore called “record” and “document” safes. They are designed to prevent any paper-based product from being damaged in a fire. A “media” or “data” safe is rated 125 degrees. Plastic, data, backup tapes, CD’s, etc. need to be kept much cooler in a fire, as they can become damaged at 125 degrees. The 125 degree safe is therefore called a “data” or “media” safe. These generally cost much more than standard fireproof safes.”

The short answer is that you want a quality media safe that’s rated (tested) for at least an hour; two hours might be better but some authorities suggest it’s overkill.

It’s also wise to ensure your fire safe is rated as waterproof too because it’s quite possible that your home will also get flooded with water when the fire department comes to put it out, water lines could burst, or who knows what.

Here’s two possible options for you to consider: