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Testimonials/Customer Letters

According to the Insurance Information Institute (www.iii.org) one-and two-family residences accounted for 60% of the 519,000 structure fires in the U.S. in 2002.

Yet despite these statistics, not very many consumers think seriously about the risk associated with a house fire - one that could easily destroy all of their personal possessions including all vital records and documents and irreplaceable mementos and heirlooms.

As Frederick C. Benson can attest, there are some measures people can take to preserve vital records from the most disastrous of fires, the first of which typically involves storing records and other valued items in a fireproof file cabinet, safe and/ or specially designed vault. In April of 2004, Benson, an attorney based in Northern California, was in the middle of controlled burn to clear some brush from his property when an errant spark from the blaze landed on his roof, causing a blaze which completely destroyed the house – absolutely nothing survived except for his Fire King 4-Drawer fireproof file.

Afraid of what he would find upon opening the drawers, Mr. Benson was extremely relieved to find that everything in the safe survived the intense heat of the fire. Included in the list of items he had stored in his FireKing product were deeds, legal documents, heirlooms, flags, paper currency, firearms, and, most importantly, non-replaceable videos of his children including several parties, special events and graduations, namely his son’s recent graduation from U.S. Navy SEAL training in Coronado, California.

"To lose any of it would have been devastating," said Mr. Benson. "But that one would have been extra traumatic." He continued: "one seldom considers the devastation caused by fire, but once experienced it is clear that everyone who has a home should own a Fire King fireproof container.

According to Van Carlisle, chief executive of FireKing Security Group, an Indiana-based loss prevention company that owns Fire King International, maker of fireproof products, it is important for homeowners to "do some planning in advance and think about documents they do want to protect, and consumers can get the right product for their needs for as little as around $400."

For storage of paper-based documents, it is crucial to look for products that are tested for resistance to fire and impact damage by Underwriters’ Laboratory (UL) in Northbrook, Ill. Beware of equipment with vague "manufacturers" or non-independent ratings. Many products out there claim to be "built to" a certain UL class specification. This is marketing-driven wordplay, pure and simple - and it leads the customer to falsely believe they are getting a UL rating, but in reality it's just the manufacturer's dubious claim.

Look for the UL stamp on each unit to make sure the product is really UL rated. A cabinet with a Class 350 rating -- suitable for protecting paper -- would limit internal temperature to no more than 350 degrees Fahrenheit while subjected to extended high external temperature, often 1,700 degrees or more for more than an hour.

For storage of computer disks and other magnetic media, experts recommend buying a unit tested by UL for a maximum internal 125 degrees (Class 125) for any electronic media such as digital disks, computer storage disks and even microfiche, since they are less tolerant of heat.