Bug'Out (portable) "SAFE". What you got....???

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
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Mar 17, 2018
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In a cabin, on a mountain, in "Wilderness" Alaska.
This is a project in process for me. My fourth (so-called) fireproof portable safe arrived today. Others were to heave or cumbersome or lacked internal space. Now I need to get educated about what additional I can do to mitigate combustion of contents.
 
This is a project in process for me. My fourth (so-called) fireproof portable safe arrived today. Others were to heave or cumbersome or lacked internal space. Now I need to get educated about what additional I can do to mitigate combustion of contents.
Some safes have a fire rating. I purchased one with a 2 hour rating. My brother said the local VFC puts out fires in far less than that. Not sure what was used in the sides. It has a rubber seal that expands under heat to seal the contents.

https://www.libertysafe.com/products/classic-plus-40
Are you looking for something portable?

Ben
 
They make "fireproof" pouches for documents. I highly doubt they are anywhere near fireproof, but putting your documents inside that pouch, which then would go inside your safe couldn't hurt, and may help.

Also, heat rises, so store the safe on the lowest level of your home on the floor. I remember reading somewhere, but I can't find a citation now, that house fires are hotter at the center of the structure than at the periphery. Which makes sense. So put your safe up against an outside wall.

If you have an old unused fridge - like one of these small college dorm room ones - put your documents in your pouch, in your safe, in your fridge, on the floor, up against an outside wall. Since your portable safe is going to be small, you could even build a little fire room for it. Get a couple of cinder blocks and some mortar and construct a 3 foot square chamber. Stuff it full of insulation batting, and put your safe in there. All of these layers that you can come up with should help, and if done right, won't impede you grabbing and running with the portable safe if you're around when fire hits.
 
Some safes have a fire rating. I purchased one with a 2 hour rating. My brother said the local VFC puts out fires in far less than that. Not sure what was used in the sides. It has a rubber seal that expands under heat to seal the contents.

https://www.libertysafe.com/products/classic-plus-40
Are you looking for something portable?

Ben
We have a fireproof safe, but I have a problem with the "portable" thing.
The whole idea with a safe is it is something one thief cannot carry off.
If you move ours, you will need at least 2 young strapping men. :thumbs:
 
Are you looking for something portable?
YES......Grab the the bug'out backpack and the portable fireproof safe and haul'arse. If NAKED, well so be it. but between those two I should be survivable.
 
I just went through near five months of locked out of my banking accounts, for lack of "CURRENT" identification. I am approaching 77 y/o and could not purchase a 6-pack of beer. (Sorry, Sir you need current I.D.)
 
We have a fireproof safe, but I have a problem with the "portable" thing.
The whole idea with a safe is it is something one thief cannot carry off.
If you move ours, you will need at least 2 young strapping men. :thumbs:
Agreed

I put in a reinforced concrete footer and bolted down mine. They brought four brutes and my brother helped get it delivered. I stayed out of the way.

Ben
 
When the California wildfire called "The CAMPFIRE" Large super insulated safes were ashes. Industrial safes in business just vaporized. People were woken and given 15 minutes to be gone. Or be arrested.
 
We have a fireproof safe, but I have a problem with the "portable" thing.
The whole idea with a safe is it is something one thief cannot carry off.
If you move ours, you will need at least 2 young strapping men.
I have two large safes. But I live in the center of the second largest National Forest.
 
When the California wildfire called "The CAMPFIRE" Large super insulated safes were ashes. Industrial safes in business just vaporized. People were woken and given 15 minutes to be gone. Or be arrested.
Can you bury a short section of 4" pipe with end caps?

Ben
 
I have "BETTER". I have several fake water wells. 6" well casing cut to 6 or 8 foot lengths, planted with a backhoe, and add a well water cap. Inside those I put the schedule 80 4" PVC pipe with caps.

But remember I get 14 to 15 feet of snow with 5 to 6 foot on ground most of the winter. So buried things are hard to find in winter.

Can you bury a short section of 4" pipe with end caps?

Ben
 
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Since you want to be nimble as you run naked through the forest, would a lighter fireproof pouch be something to consider verses a heavy “portable” safe? The contents in a fireproof pouch will most certainly protect the content inside verses what you will be wearing (or not) as you dodge burning fir, spruce and birch trees. Of course, all of this is conjecture since I don’t really know how much stuff you want to carry when you get out of dodge.

You do bring up a good point on the need to relocate stuff particularly where we live with constant threats of forest fires. I have several expensive non-portable fireproof safes and a couple “portable“ fireproof safes that, due to the weight might not be portable enough. Maybe I should keep those truly valuable items inside of those in a pouch our two to grab if I was really needing to run down my mountain with a wildfire in hot pursuit. Access to the road system where vehicles or ATV could be used might not always be an option in our neck of the woods.
 
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What about wrapping a Pelican Long Gun case (ie a 1750) in a fire blanket or two?

You could also replace the internal foam with another fire blanket.

That is about the only portable solution I can think of......

If that were in a creek bed or other low spot, it would survive a Forest fire.
 
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OK......lets star over. I have purchased three different portable (So-called) fireproof safes in the last three months. This is the one (until I find something better) I am going forward with.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NHKWZU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Weight empty: (19) NINETEEN POUNDS.
Inside space is "Roughly" 4" H & 8.5" D & 13" long
(A document 11" x 8.5" will lay flat on the bottom)
I have painted the everything that was not black, FLAT BLACK.
The "goal" is for it to not look like a fireproof safe. Still be portable.
Even if compelled to hitch-hike, and the driver asked, "What's in the case"??
Answer: "A change of clothes, toiletries, heart medication & urinary meds".
The point is it does not look like anything but a small case. You could be wearing a three-piece pin stripe suit, or Carhartt clothing. The case says nothing but, that it is a case.
 
If mobility is a key feature, I would opt for something that is NOT "fireproof" when mobile. i.e., much smaller and lighter and with a higher internal volume compared to external volume. The fireproofing is only needed when the thing is stationary inside your house. So configure your fireproofing AROUND the mobile piece, not as a built-in part of it. Otherwise you'll end up carrying around 19 lbs of safe - that you're trying to conceal so it doesn't look like a safe - to hold a few ounces of paperwork inside it. You could even use a tall metal/glass Thermos bottle to store your papers in (rolled up). Throw that in a backpack if you have to be mobile. Inconspicuous, and also offers some degree of thermal protection for the contents. As well as water protection.
 
I've opened a dozen or so safes after house fires.

In every case the contents where completely destroyed.

I wouldn't bother.

I might be mistaken, but I think Sourdough was specifically looking for a portable fireproof safe to carry away from a fire, not survive his place burning down. But I might have misread the intent.
 
I might be mistaken, but I think Sourdough was specifically looking for a portable fireproof safe to carry away from a fire, not survive his place burning down. But I might have misread the intent.

I don't think you're mistaken.

But my point remains the same. If a fireproof safe doesn't actually protect from fire....don't bother with a fireproof safe.

If you plan to carry it away....then the extra weight off a 'fireproof' safe, only makes that harder to do so, while still not actually protecting it if you do not carry it away.
 
There actually was one safe I recovered after a fire that had contents in an okay condition, it was in a trailer house, and the house burned in such a way that the safe fell through the outerwall, into the yard, and was not buried in buried debris.

If I had such a safe, I think I would design it in such a way to make it likely for it to be 'ejected' from the house in a fire. Perhaps place it against a large window, on a plateform of high density foam, angled so that when the foam melted, the safe would tip backwards through the glass.

Probably more work than is worth it.

But either way, there is no such thing as a fireproof safe. Its an unfortunate law of physics. If a box is surrounded by fire, and its insulation is not 100% effective, its only a matter of time until the heat soaks in, as if surrounded on all sides by the heat, there is no way to dissipate that heat it will simply build up until the temp is equalized, or the fire is out.
 
But my point remains the same. If a fireproof safe doesn't actually protect from fire....don't bother with a fireproof safe.
Here is how I view this. Do powerful "natural & unnatural" events happen that could instantly impact your ability to quickly recover?? Instant tornado, instant dam rupture, & resulting instant flood. Instant, zero warning massive firestorm, and a dozen other types of events.

Because of where and how I have lived the last 50+ years I have rejected the "bugout" maneuver as not relevant to me. Slowly, likely because of aging I have slowly started accepting the possibility.

Now I could keep important papers and documents in any container, Grocery bag, pillowcase, wood box, a $400.00 leather attaché case, but "NOT" in a vacuum bottle.

The safe can contain many-many things NOT critical to starting over, they are nice things but not critical. Things like firearms, 110 years of family photos, other personal treasures.

I want to have, what I need to start over all-in-one container. It is not like I reside in an urban or suburban or rural area to start my bug'out. I am in the center of the second largest National Forest in America (near seven million acres of wilderness). I would just need to get to a safe place to continue life, and I would not (likely to) be getting there on foot.

I see "zero" disadvantage to said container having some degree of fire "resistant", so long as the combined weight of both the container and contents is manageable. I have a "PELICUN" Camera Case, that is the same size maybe slightly bigger, it is stronger built, and would work also.
 
I see "zero" disadvantage to said container having some degree of fire "resistant", so long as the combined weight of both the container and contents is manageable.

I see zero disadvantage in that as well, so long as the 'so long' part is adhered to.
 
I've opened a dozen or so safes after house fires.

In every case the contents where completely destroyed.

I wouldn't bother.
They are cheap & installed wrong.
If you build a house, install a safe, the best you can afford.
Then put it in a closet with concrete walls, close lined with firebrick with a metal hollow core door fill with rockwool. Also make it hidden from crooks/cops & your in laws. The cost will go in the house cost, but you will have a place for cash, stone, Jewelry & coins as well as tools of the trade.
 
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They are cheap & installed wrong.
If you build a house, install a safe, the best you can afford.
Then put it in a closet with concrete walls, close lined with firebrick with a metal hollow core door fill with rockwool. Also make it hidden from crooks/cops & your in laws. The cost will go in the house cost, but you will have a place for cash, stone, Jewelry & coins as well as tools of the trade.

Or, put that money into hardening the entire house. :thumbs:
 
Also make it hidden from crooks/cops & your in laws.
Someone has to know where it is. That would be someone you trust, which it sounds like would exclude in laws in your case. You could always let them know the location, but not the method to access the contents (the safe combination, etc.) You would need some way set up to communicate the access details to those you want to grant access after your death however. I don't know of a universal way to do this - a way that would work for everybody. Some law firms will do this service, but probably not all of them, and even then this may not be a good method for all people.

I am lucky enough to have a family that I can trust, so they have access details now, ahead of time, while I'm still alive. That won't work for everybody though.
 
Someone has to know where it is. That would be someone you trust, which it sounds like would exclude in laws in your case. You could always let them know the location, but not the method to access the contents (the safe combination, etc.) You would need some way set up to communicate the access details to those you want to grant access after your death however. I don't know of a universal way to do this - a way that would work for everybody. Some law firms will do this service, but probably not all of them, and even then this may not be a good method for all people.

I am lucky enough to have a family that I can trust, so they have access details now, ahead of time, while I'm still alive. That won't work for everybody though.
In Law was a filler for anyone you can not trust.
I have one person, the executor of my will.
 
Or, put that money into hardening the entire house. :thumbs:
I agree, but it would double the cost of the house to bullet proof a house of 2000 sq. ft. $300,000.00 to $400,000.00.
Just the brick would be over $10,000.00, brick house are more sound, fire & more ballistic resistant than a wood/siding home.
 
I'm just saying....people will spend a few thousand on a big safe.....when I think almost everyone would be better served spending a few thousand on better doors and windows and a security system and a hundred bucks on a metal cabinet to keep the kids out, rather than putting a good safe, in an unhardened house. Once they get in the house, they can spend all night cutting open the safe...I'd pretty much go so far as to say, once the safe comes into play, you're already so compromised you've lost most of its value.
 
Do you have a cement floor anywhere in your home? Make s small storage area out of cinder blocks, fill the voids with the fire blocker version of Great Stuff spray foam. Put a few layers of cinder block patio stones on top, glue them down with the fire resistant spray foam, and then stack some gallon sized water filled milk jugs on top and all around. Do not put anything flammable next to or on top of this safe place, and hide it if you can, maybe in a back corner behind something else. that is unimportant. If you don't have a concrete floor put a few layers of cement board underneath with an air gap between each layer. Of course you will need a door or removable access panel. It will be easy to grab if you need to run but if there is a fire when you are not there it will have some protection from the heat. The more layers of cinder block and spray foam fire block the better. The water filled jugs, when it is hot enough for the plastic to melt the water will help cool what is below. You could also enclose everything with a a few layers of sheetrock drywall or cement board, leaving an air gap between each layer, for added protection.
It sounds like your main concern is fire protection after you bug out for a fire, if the fire gets so closed to your valuables while you are bugging out you have bigger problems to be concerned about. You will probably melt before the portable fire resistant container.
I hope you find a suitable solution.
 
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