What Level of Protection is Offered by Fire Safes?

When purchasing fire safes for your home and business one of your main concerns should be the level of fire protection and security offered by the safe. Given that they are designed to hold your more important valuables and documents, it’s essential that you choose one with an adequate fire rating.

Most high quality safes will be labelled with an Underwriters Label (UL). This sort of labelling is not mandatory, so it’s possible a high quality safe may not carry the UL label. Safes assessed by UL undergo a series of tests, including: fire resistance, explosion resistance, fire and impact, and combined explosion and impact. Depending on the safe’s performance, it will receive a particular rating.

A safe’s UL label also shows the temperature resistance and minimum lengths of time it is able to withstand extreme heats. The temperature resistance of the safe refers not to whether the safe itself can withstand a particular heat, but whether the safe’s contents remain at a non-damaging temperature. Note that the time rating given to a safe represents the minimum time its contents can be kept safe.

Always check with your retailer about the protection offered by fire safes before making a purchase.