Few things are scarier for a homeowner than flames. House fires don’t discriminate. They can decimate valuables and cash as quickly as they rip through walls and obliterate bedding. While fire proof safes don’t exist, homeowners can take a series of precautions to protect their high-value possessions — not the least of which is utilizing a Cool Pocket.
Located at the mouth of the Nisqually River, Elbe, Washington is a blip on the map for many. In its earliest days, it served as a gathering place for lumberjacks, but the local logging boom ended in 1936 when the timber from the surrounding region had been exhausted. Today, the town is arguably home to more dirt trails than it is people.
Traffic-free and surrounded by nature. Sounds like paradise, doesn’t it?
And it is. Denuded mountain ranges and forested peaks offer rich hunting grounds. Both the Nisqually River and Alder Lake are rich with fish. Plus, many a local home was built with local timber — as was the case for an Elbe family until February of 2023.
The Devastating Effects of a Home Fire & How One Family Saved a Chunk of Cash
A home fire ripped through their log cabin, destroying photos and family heirlooms in its wake. The owners had recently installed new heaters that malfunctioned. Local firefighters were able to extinguish the flames before they spread to the nearby forest, but not before the roof caved in, the walls fell down, and the stone chimney stood smoking like a tower in Game of Thrones.
A Liberty Premium 20 gun safe was pulled from the wreckage, the metal still hot from the fire. After dousing the safe in water, firefighters used The Jaws of Life to pry the safe open.
While the Liberty Premium 20 has been discontinued, it’s similar to the popular Colonial 23, which also has a 75-minute fire rating. At first glance, the contents appeared unsalvageable. Heat, smoke, and water had warped the contents so they were nearly indistinguishable from their former selves. But upon further inspection, the Liberty Door Panel was outfitted with a Cool Pocket.
The specially designed container kept the contents 50 degrees cooler than the fire. It was also installed at the bottom of the safe, where temperatures are the coolest While that’s not a sauna you’d want to enjoy, the lowered temp was enough to save the $27,000 in cash that was stored inside.
How Liberty Cool Pockets Work
Liberty Safe Cool Pockets are made with a proprietary heat shield designed with a mix of 70% fabric and 30% foil. This unique container slows the transfer of heat and smoke to the contents inside.
Additional Ways to Protect Valuables from Fire Damage
There are two universally accepted truths about fire safety:
- The lower you are, the cooler you are.
- Barriers can help protect against rising temps and toxic smoke. (A principal we see on full display with Cool Pocket.)
In addition to storing your most prized possessions at the bottom of your safe, there are a variety of accessories that can create heat and smoke barriers. These can include, but are not limited to:
- Sack-Ups Rifle/Shotgun Sac
- Sack-Ups Pistol Sac
- FireKing SureSeal Boxes
- Jewelry Drawers (yep! Even a jewelry drawer provides a layer of protection)
What to Know About Fire Proof Safes
The first thing to know about fire proof safes is there’s no such thing as fire proof safes. No safe can withstand a flame for a fire indefinitely. That being said, some safes are more fire resistant than others.
If protecting against fire is your primary concern when installing a safe, you’ll want to pay close attention to the safe’s fire rating and the testing that backs it up. Home and gun safe fire ratings are not regulated. Any manufacturer, anywhere in the world, can assign their safes a fire rating with nothing holding them accountable.
American manufacturers, like Liberty and Rhino Metals, put their products through stringent testing to determine the safe’s fire rating.
Top Fire Resistant Gun Safes
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to safes. The ultimate in protection is undoubtedly commercial safes. Built to withstand physical attacks from intruders, commercial safes also come with hefty fire ratings (some of which may far exceed what’s listed).
However, a commercial safe may be overkill — especially if the value of what you’re storing is less than the cost of the safe. In many instances, a high-end gun safe offers a substantial fire rating that gives firefighters enough time to reach the home fire and put it out before the inside contents are destroyed. These include:
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Liberty’s Presidential Safes (2.5-Hour Fire Rating)
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Liberty’s Magnum Safes (2.5-Hour Fire Rating)
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Rhino’s Ironworks Gun Safes (130-Minute Fire Rating)