What are Safe Fire Ratings?

If you’re looking to buy a fire resistant safe, you will find that safes have different fire ratings. These fire ratings indicate the degree of protection the safe or filing cabinet will provide its contents in the event of a fire. 

What some people don’t realise is that safes are not fire proof. They are ‘resistant’ against fire. Fire Resistant Safes are designed to protect papers from extreme heat within a specific time period. 

The insulation within the safe releases moisture when exposed to extreme heat which keeps the temperature below the level of paper ignition.

Fire safe ratings can be based on specific time periods the safe will withstand effect from a fire ie. 30mins, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours and 4 hours.

Safes can be fire rated by Underwriter Laboratories or Industry Testing Authorities and may undergo a diverse range of testing methods such as; fire endurance, fire and impact, explosion hazard test and combined explosion and impact testing.

It is important to know that fire resistant safes generally have little theft resistance. So you would not store items such as cash in a fire resistant safe. There are however safes that provide both fire resistance and theft resistance. Aus Safes have a great range of high quality safes that provide both levels of protection.