People steal. Therefore, safes exist. There has always been a need for a place to hide, store, and lock away valuables in order to protect them from thieves.

Hundreds or even thousands of years ago, safes were constructed from materials such as wood, granite, cement, brick, and even clay. Today, safes are made with some type of metal, combined with other materials. Safes have basically always incorporated a lock of some kind, and, to make things more difficult for criminals, have often been built to be either intentionally heavy or permanently installed.

Throughout the 19th century, as cities were developed and more and more houses were built, fires became an issue in overcrowded areas. Fire codes as we know them today didn’t exist. This created a need to protect valuables from more than thieves. New technologies were added to protect safes from fire damage. It wasn’t unusual for a safe to be lined with brick, asbestos, or plaster to slow down a fire.

Once high-quality, fire-resistant metal safes were introduced, banks and wealthy people snapped them up. But it wasn’t until the early 1930’s that SentrySafe introduced and perfected the fire-resistant safe as an affordable alternative for average people’s home security needs. Today, millions of SentrySafes like the Big Bolt Fire Safe are being deployed in homes and small businesses worldwide. Having a safe is just smart. Go to SentrySafe to learn more.

Robert Siciliano is a Personal and Home Security Expert for SentrySafe. See him Discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.