Re: Media Safe fire ratings

I worked in a resort hotel several years ago that was three stories high, plus basements, with poured concrete walls and floors. The computer room was in the basement. The fire started in the attic with some old papers they had stored there and since the roof was wood, it burned pretty good, but the fire was restricted to the attic. The problem that was bigger than the fire was all the water the volunteer fire department poured into the attic to put the fire out. The water went from the attic down through all three floors in two wings of the hotel and ended up in the basement. You could still hear the water running down inside the walls the next day. Fire department put a piece of plastic over the computer (a S/370) to protect it from the water. The water damage was so severe to the hotel that the procedures were changed to call the general manager in case of fire to get the OK to call the fire department.

We did not have a fire safe and were able to remove the removable disks from the computer room, although they ended up in various places with various people. After the computer dried out for a couple of days, it started right up.

About the water damage. Everything in the two wings of the hotel was damaged by the water. All the rooms and hallways had to be fixed with new materials. I believe the furniture was ruined too. The hotel guests were not too happy either. It was like a water fall coming down the stairwells. In the offices which were on the first floor, everything that was sitting on anyones desk or on the floor was damaged by the water. Any of the cases of computer forms that were sitting on the floor were ruined. Another rule they put in place after this was that nothing that was not waterproof could sit directly on the floor. They bought new cabinets too, because they did not want you to leave anything sitting on top of your desk.

I first heard about the fire at about 8 pm when the night computer operator called me at home and said "The Lodge is on fire, what do I do?". I hope I never receive a call like that again. :) We did not have any formal disaster plans at the time either, so you might want to include them in your fire disaster plans.

I don't know how water proof fire safes are, but what happens to it if it is submerged in water for several hours or days?

Dave


rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Better question, has anyone ever had a fire and had their media in a fire safe? If so:
- was the fire intense?
- How did the media come out?
- Any water damage from the fire fighters?

Or, Has anyone had their media in a fire save when a tornado wiped out their building? Was the safe hard to find? Take long to dig through the rubble to find it?

Anyone have their media in a fire safe and get flooded, like Katrina? Media ok?

Anyone used to use a media safe and switch to offsite after a particularly nasty event?


Rob Berendt