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Old 12-07-2009, 05:49 PM
duckloads duckloads is offline
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Location: Nicholasville, Kentucky
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As part of my job, I am an origin and cause fire investigator. I have seen plenty of houses burnt to the ground. Wood burns at about 1850 degrees F. Flashover, where EVERYTHING in a room or compartment ignites happens at about 1100 deg F.

Gasoline is about the same while methanol burns at over 2100 deg F. It takes WAY longer than 30 min's for a house to burn down.

I look at the ratings of "fire" safes and shake my head. So, if you get a localized fire at the opposite end of your house from the gun safe, your guns might be ok.

I once investigated a house fire that was a total burn. Even the floor joist were gone. They guy had a gun safe where he also kept his important papers. I never got the chance to have the safe opened. It was a two story house, and once the structure started to collapse, the safe wasn't so safe anymore. It looked like it had been in a train wreck. I really wanted to know if anything survived. I expected to see a bunch of burnt steel and charcoal. I'm guessing that once the available oxygen is used up in the safe, everything flamable just turns to carbon. In the above case, the door seal for the safe had been compromised

Depending on where you live and the response time of the fire dept, make sure you have adequate insurance on your home's contents.

that's just my .02.
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