Fire Resistant Filing Cabinets - The New Rage

Fire resistant filing cabinets, also known as 'Fire Files' are the new rage in filing cabinets these days. Due to their fire resistance, filing cabinets are becoming very popular among companies and homeowners. The best part about these cabinets is that they provide peace of mind even in the difficult situations. Not only fire resistant filing cabinets protect important documents against fire but also hurricanes and flood. Design, appearance and protection are the three most important factors that you must look for when buying these fire resistant cabinets.

Features of Fire Resistant Filing Cabinets

First and foremost, you should know exactly what you want to protect in these cabinets. It may be electronic tapes, important papers or files or all these things. If your objective is to protect papers, keep in mind the fact that papers start to char at 350 degree F. On the other hand, electronic media starts burning at 125&degF.

Some people believe that buying fire resistant filing cabinets will fully protect their documents from the fire. This is true but only to an extent; if fire burns for a long time; these cabinets will not protect documents for long and will finally succumb to the fire. Taking this into account, it is quite important to analyze your situation first before buying these cabinets.

Also take into consideration the impact of flooring where these cabinets are placed as fire can affect the flooring under the filing cabinet. There is no need of impact rated cabinets if the first floor on your slab is concrete. Impact rated cabinets play a prominent part in making sure that no other things fall on the cabinet.

Kinds of Fire Resistant Filing Cabinets

There are two kinds of fire resistant filing cabinets available in the market, namely, vertical file cabinets and lateral file cabinets.

Vertical Fire Resistant Cabinets

Most of the vertical file cabinets have independently secured drawers and customized interior accessories. The best vertical file cabinets are the one, which have recessed handles and fire protection insulation feature.

In terms of design, it is important that vertical file cabinets are compact and save plenty of space.

Lateral File Resistant Cabinets

Lateral fire resistant filing cabinets usually come in three sizes ranging from 43 inches, 36 inches and 30 inches. The most fascinating thing about these cabinets is that they allow for both side-to-side filing and front-to-back, which can accommodate into any modern office environment giving unlimited filing and storage space.

When you buy fire resistant filing cabinets, make sure that they are secure enough to store your important files and documents. They must include seamless outer wrappers and independently secure fire safe drawers. In addition, your filing cabinets must have high security locks from reputed companies like Medeco, LaGard and Greenleaf.

It’s your responsibility to ensure that the fire resistant filing cabinet you are buying contains the label of insulated record protection equipment. This label signifies the level of protection the file cabinet provides in case of fire. Point to be noted here is that the level of protection will have an impact on the selling price of the file cabinet. If the level of protection is low, you will get the file cabinet at a lower price. On the other hand, filing cabinets that offer high protection level cost more. It is advised you buy fire resistant filing cabinets after searching thoroughly for the best cabinet that offers maximum protection from fire and combustion.

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