Saferite Business Systems Center

David Isom is the owner of Saferite Business Systems Center, located in Memphis, TN. Saferite is in the business of selling new and used office furniture and was started over thirty-two years ago by Mr. Isom, and the company remained in its original location until September 4th, 2005. On that day, a devastating fire ultimately destroyed most of the building and its contents. Luckily, owing to Mr. Isom's foresight, the business's vital records were properly stored in a FireKing 4-drawer fireproof vertical filing cabinet.

From Isom's past experiences, managing post properties for the U.S. Army, he gained the very real awareness that no property is safe from destruction, regardless of whether it is destroyed by an enemy air strike or a spark from a TV. The latter is what caused the massive fire to knock out Saferite's alarm system, burn through the entire 40,000 square ft. warehouse, hit a natural gas line, cause an explosion, and destroy over $1 million in inventory. The blaze burnt for over seven hours, requiring the attention of seven Memphis FD trucks. After it was all over and safe to return to the building, Isom returned for a damage assessment.

"The damage was incredible, and I knew that it would be a while before business would operate normally in this location, he commented. "We are currently rebuilding the site now. Thankfully, I was protected by the FireKing file - there was only one cabinet, but it housed very important things such as legal documents, titles, deeds, checks, invoices, accounts receivable information, and about $1,000 in cash; basically every legal document representing over $4 million in assets was kept in that file."

According to Mr. Isom, the outside of the FireKing was completely destroyed; its appearance was congruent with its surroundings. The mechanism from the lock on the unit had burnt and was frozen, rendering it impossible to open with out prying a drawer open with a crowbar. In other words, everything around the FireKing file was burnt to a crisp, but the contents were completely safe and in there original condition.

Getting back to business after a catastrophic event such as this can seem to be an impossible task. Saferite Business Systems Center, however, was only out of business for 30 days. They moved to a different location in the area and set up shop as quickly as possible to maintain the customer base of over $2 million. Without having immediate access to the company's most important documents and help from the highest levels of business interruption insurance this would not have been possible.

The lesson learned from the loss experienced by Saferite Business Systems Center is clear: be proactive and don't ignore the risks. Using a proper UL-rated fireproof and water resistant filing cabinet or safe for your business's vital records is an essential component to the overall security strategy for you business.

David Isom, now more than ever, knows the importance of proper vital record protection and storage and by placing the file that survived the September 4th fire in the center of his showroom; he uses this lesson as a way to promote fireproof filing containers to his business customers. He and his staff now show the burnt up shell of the FireKing file as a dramatic and visual sales tool when preparing other businesses for a potential disaster such as the one he experience on September 4th, 2005.