Camp Fire - Paradise, CA 2018

My wife and I lost everything we owned in the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA on November 8, 2018. The safe we purchased from Visalia Safes was the only thing left standing among the ashes of our home. Inside the safe we had rifles, handguns, ammunition, jewelry, important papers and a coin collection. The fire was so intense that the outside of the safe was burned and the dial had melted. Visalia Safes sent their men to our home to open the safe for us. The guns were intact, but the metal was affected, and the stocks were burned. Amazingly, the top shelf had collapsed onto the lower shelves which compacted the paperwork and coin collection into a space that had almost no air, so they survived this horrific fire. Some of the coins were scorched but the majority were untouched. The contents of this safe was all we had left of our previous life. There was a lot of looting going on especially of smaller safes that could be picked up and removed. Our safe was large and heavy and we knew no one was going to be able to pick it up and take it without the use of heavy equipment. Thankfully, we had purchased a safe that survived the fire and could not be moved or opened!

~William Stevenson