Actually, there are some additional precautions that may prove worthwhile.
BURGLARY
At the El Cajon Gun Exchange we make a point of selling safes as burglar resistant - not burglar proof,
plus we've all heard that you can't stop the professional burglar. Maybe not, but we can increase
the risk of getting caught to the point where the professional is forced to give up. How you ask? Let's
look at the problem from the dark side.
The Burglar's Problem
It will help if we can define the problem from the burglar's perspective. Simply put, an intruder's risk
of getting caught increases with the amount of time that he spends in your home and the amount of noise that
he makes while there. Therefore, the question is what steps can we take to make the bad guy waste time and
make noise? You've already taken the first step, purchasing a safe. A safe is one of the most effective time
wasting, noisy obstacles you can confront a burglar with. The tougher the safe is, the more time and noise
it takes to break it. The weaker the safe, the less time and ... well, you get the idea.
Buying a safe may not be enough by itself. One of the first thoughts that pops into the bad guys head is
that if he can't break into it in your house, take it to where he can. Do consider bolting it down as weight
alone is not enough to keep the bad guy from removing the safe and transporting it to a location where he
can take his time and make as much noise as he wants. It's not that hard to move a heavy safe. Commercial
power dollies, such as the Ultra-Lift that we use for deliveries, can easily walk up and down stairs, in
and out of the back of a pick-up truck with as much as 1500 lbs. No power dolly? Remember the commercial
"Two men will move you"? Well two men can easily tip most safes over into a pick-up bed. Bolt
it down!
Be creative. Stick it in a closet with a solid core door and a deadbolt (more time, more noise). If the
closet is in a garage or utility room stick a professional looking sign on the door, ""WARNING! HIGH
VOLTAGE, ATMOSPHERE CONTROL UNIT, NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE". Put a smoke detector on the
ceiling directly above your safe - most of the things a bad guy does to break into a safe, (drilling into
a hard plate, grinding, cutting torch), creates smoke. If the smoke detector lights off we have noise and
the bad guy doesn't know if someone is responding to it or not. Best guess is he leaves.
Take advantage of the S&G electronic locks. They dramatically increase security and increase your
convenience at the same time! YOU change the combination, not a locksmith, a full million combinations, a
tamper lock out (YOU set it for 0 to 9 minutes), 9 possible combinations which you can change, alter, or
delete as desired. The 9 volt battery is on the outside and the combo is stored even if it dies. For Champion
safes, a glass relocker is an outstanding way to improve your security by booby trapping the internal mechanism
against tampering and drilling.
One last burglary item. Unless the safe is a "show piece" for some reason, treat it as confidential
family information. The less others know about your personal security measures the more unlikely they are to be
unprepared to deal with a safe. Install it somplace out of sight and out of mind. Warn the kids against showing
it to or talking about it with others.
FIRE
As with burglary, fire safes are not fire proof, they are fire resistant. If the safe cooks long enough,
everything in it is toast. A fireliner buys time. Time for the FD to put the fire out. Simply put, the best
fireliner is one that buys more time. Having said that, you don't have to settle for whatever protection the
safe company gave you. It is possible to improve your fire protection if you can think inside and
outside the box.
Inside the box thinking includes things like not storing super flammables like perfume, gun powder, and
ammunition inside your safe. It is possible that a fire could heat up the inside enough to ignite these items
and that valuables that might have survived otherwise won't. We stock a variety of lockers for these low value,
flammable, keep away from children items. Another example of inside the box thinking is a fire box. Small enough
to fit into most safes, (they come in several sizes), they can double the fire protection of most safes. It's
a perfect solution for important papers and small valuables.
Outside the box thinking might include: double or triple sheet rock inside the closet that your safe is in.
Installing a sprinkler. Not storing flammables by your safe. Installing the safe away from likely ignition
sources so that it isn't the first thing to go. Not storing ammo or gun powder in your safe; once it cooks off
things that otherwise might have survived may not.
Be creative, do your own thinking, visit us for more tips.
