If you’ve ever read some important information about fire safety, you’ll likely become more cautious now on keeping your family safe. You also probably want to equip your home with a smoke detector in every room, establish an emergency escape plan, and spend some time to teach your children to call 911 in case of a fire emergency. After you have taken steps to protect your family – the next thing you might want to do is to protect your most valuable possessions.

When a fire breaks out, it will destroy many of your valuables, important documents, treasured items, and your memorable experiences. Having a fireproof safe at home is beneficial to most homeowners, as they can quickly get their original copies of crucial documents immediately, without the hassles of trying to get copies of insurance papers, passports, and waiting for the bank to open.

If you don’t have a fire-safe box yet and are considering buying your own, it’s worth noting that these safes are best used for specific purposes. You need to learn which things should be kept in a fireproof safe box for ultimate security, and which are best kept elsewhere.

Remember that standard fireproof safes protect your valuables against intense heat and smoke damage, for periods of up to 2 hours. The best type of fireproof safe that you want to buy depends on the items you wish to store. When you are going to choose which fireproof safe to get, you should take note of the following:

· Papers, passports, certificates, and documents require a reliable safe, capable of withstanding 350 degrees F or more.

· Digital media – such as memory sticks, USBs, CDs, and DVDs, require a safe that can withstand 238 degrees F or more.

· Data such as internal hard drives, computer backups, and tapes are the most vulnerable; all these require a safe that may withstand temperatures of 150 degrees F or more.

If you want to store a combination of items from all of the items listed above, choose a more resistant fire safe box, in order to encompass all of the requirements. Here are the most recommended valuable things that need to be stored in a fireproof safe.

Insurance policy information is one of the most valuable items that you should be looking for after a home fire breaks out. When you keep this critical item in a fireproof safe box, you can access it immediately, when a fire disaster strikes.

If you have financial documents at home, or some financial account information relating to your bank accounts, you should keep them in your fireproof safe. In the event of a fire incident, you may need to access funds quickly. These financial documents also include retirement plans and investments. Digitally saving all the financial records is also a good idea, just in case.

Passports and Identification information such as birth certificates and social security cards can be challenging to replace if lost or damaged by fire. It’s wise to keep passports at home in your fireproof safe, so they’re ready to use within a moment’s notice. It can be beneficial to keep original birth certificates elsewhere where you can get it quickly, and just keep a copy of this document in your fireproof safe.

Information about your family doctor and other people you may want to contact in case of an emergency should be kept in your fireproof safe at all times.

If you have a safety deposit box at the bank, then you have to keep the key in your fire safe box. The keys of your safety deposit box, that you keep in your fire safe box, will ensure you gain access to those valuables in case of emergency.

If you store money at home, it’s best to keep it in your fireproof safe – along with other valuables and collectibles, like coins and jewelry.

If you store your family memories in data form, keep them in your fire safe box. You can well protect those precious moments from going up in smoke if you save them on hard drives and keep it in your fire safe box. The same rule applies to companies that need to keep their data safe on a hard drive.

When you want to protect your valuable possessions, store them in a fire-safe box. Many people today opt for a fireproof safe to protect their valuables rather than keeping them in a safety deposit box at the local bank.