Snips and replies to Alice B. Young, CRM

> In my mind, "fire-resistant" allows me to think I have a brief span of time whereby impacted records are in danger, but could be okay, if the fire is brought under control within 2 hours.

In what world is the option of “”Could be okay???” an option worth pursuing? Technically you don’t really care if the wall can survive, you care if what you treasure inside the room can survive.

The term fire-resistant has no meaning in the real world of construction.  A wood door is fire resistant for a period of time. Architects design walls made of gypsum board and depending on the number of layers can claim a level of fire-resistance.  But that is assuming the contractor building it knew what he was doing.

When anyone finds that general contractor who truly knows how to build a fire-resistant room, let me know; as in my 35 years dealing with general contractors, I find they do not grasp the end game which is to protect what is inside the space. They will tell you that performance is not in their Scope of Work.

Fire-resistance is a factor of time. How long does the particular item resist burning.
It does not have a requirement that something inside of it not burn while the aforementioned construction was resisting the fire. These same contractors will run metal ductwork, the overhead structural steel and conduit through these walls.  These conduct heat and will make that room fail.

The real problem is that fire resistant walls have no mandate to remain structural and therefore as walls shift, overhead HVAC equipment fall upon the wall weakened by fire, the wall collapses.

A big records storage company used a wall construction which claimed to be fire-resistant but the very first wall that was exposed to the tremendous destruction that fire creates, failed in less than 20 minutes. Then subsequent walls failed. The fire crossed four such fire walls in less than 2 1/2 hours but they will point to a fire test that calls them fire resistant.

> Whereas, "fire-proof" does not exist in 99% of cases.

Fireproof exists within a time construct.  Fireproof Vaults doors can remain fireproof for four hours or if you buy the upgrade, for six hours. I am not aware of even one failure for these doors in their history provided the fire department arrives and extinguishes the fire within the four hour design exposure.

FIRELOCK has been building vaults all over the world for 28 years. We have been involved in multiple fires and multiple floods and hurricanes and hundreds of earthquakes and we have never failed.  Not one document has ever been destroyed in our vaults for any reason.

In fact, we test for five hours of endurance but we sell a four hour vault as a four hour vault. That means that if no one comes to fight the fire, and there is a enough fuel then we could fail.  The four hour rating is designed to give the fire department time to arrive, set up, hook up hoses and then fight the fire.  A good fire department should be reducing the heat in the building within 10 to 15 minutes.

If the building is sprinklered, then that system can automatically help reduce heat in the fire ignition point. ( Arsonists often turn the sprinklers off but the fire department can turn them back on when they arrive. They also pump more water through the systems heads to more effectively fight the fire where it started.)

> Whereas, "fire-proof" does not exist in 99% of cases.
Fire resistant does not exist in 99% of design cases but fireproof is a laboratory testing program that tests and awards a level of performance. In the history of fire-safes, a “One-Hour Class 350 Safe” has never failed, that I am aware of. If a company ever has a failure, the Laboratory granting the label would then jerk the label. In fact, the come to your factory on a routine basis and check to make sue nothing is built in any different way.  They charge about $300.00 per month for the right to do this check. (Wow, I have paid them $84,000 for this certification over the years. )  Each fire test costs about $25,000 to $40,000 to test a new product or method. That is why Schwab is the only manufacturer making a Four Hour Vault Door and FIRELOCK is the only Four Hour Fireproof Media Vault.  Whether we sell a vault or not these expenses build the cost of the product.

> Or are there cabinets/vaults that truly ARE "fire-proof" that won't cost a ton of gold?  
I pray all the time that my vaults perform as designed. No one can make something God cannot destroy. But man can design and build a fireproof vault that can perform for a fixed period of time. No vault can resist a World Trade Center collapse.  (36” thick concrete vaults failed there.)

When I receive a call about a vault, the first question I ask is what are we protecting and what is it’s value.  The cost of the vault is a function of the value inside it.  Ask yourself “What happens if I come in tomorrow and these records are gone?”  Can you recreate them, are they also offsite, are they on servers in another building?

Those who say there is no such thing as fire proof are wrong. But there is no such thing as fire proof for a period of time beyond 6 hours.  There is no such thing as fire proof if the fire is hotter than 3,000º F. Fires this hot can melt most vault and building constructions ( nuclear)  but building fires seldom exceed 2,000º F according to the testing labs.

Vaults are expensive.  10’ x 10’ = $45,000 and 10’ x 20’ = $57,000 and 20’ x 20’ = $83,000 so they are far less than $35 million that a ton of gold would cost. But the question is what if they are gone tomorrow and can I store them in a failsafe way with redundancy and not need a vault?

Ironically, the HIPAA and other laws are making management more fearful of exposure and this leads to centralization to avoid securing records in multiple locations and exposing the records to more prying eyes.

Fires put corporations out of business, especially so if the records are one of the casualties.

Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
[log in to unmask]
(610)  756-4440    Fax (610)  756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM

> From: Alice Young <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 8:55 AM
> Subject: Defining "Fire-Resistant" vs. "Fire-Proof"
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> Hello all!
> 
> Thanks to all for your invaluable knowledge and experience.  Where would any of us be without our colleagues?
> 
> I am considering the difference(s) between the two terms "fire-resistant" and "fire-proof" and have hit a crossroad.
> 
> In my mind, "fire-resistant" allows me to think I have a brief span of time whereby impacted records are in danger, but could be okay, if the fire is brought under control within 2 hours.  Whereas, "fire-proof" does not exist in 99% of cases.
> 
> Am I correct?  Or are there cabinets/vaults that truly ARE "fire-proof" that won't cost a ton of gold?  That is, unless Larry Medina is in charge of the vault, and EVERYTHING is secured!
> 
> Thank you for your input.
> 
> Alice
> 
> Alice B. Young, CRM
> Records Management Administrator
> Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
> One Jeff Fuqua Boulevard
> Orlando FL 32827
> 407-825-2060 voice
> 407-825-2526 fax
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> "God answers our prayers in His time ..... not ours."
> [Description: Description: C:\Users\AYoung\Desktop\ARMA eBadge_Volunteer.gif]

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