WEBVTT
00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.919
Hey, welcome back to the Lars, Larson show.
00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.000
I guess you could say I have a dog in the fight.
00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:08.880
Do I own guns?
00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:09.599
I own guns.
00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:10.640
Do I own a safe?
00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:11.919
Yes, I own a safe.
00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:17.440
Do I count on that safe to keep those guns safe if there is a fire in my house?
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:25.839
Yeah, except that most of the time, if you have a fire in somebody's house, uh that fire is called into the fire department.
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:48.000
And even if the fire department is moving very, very slowly, they are at the house and trying to put the fire out within, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes at most, except in the case of Spokane, when all those wildfires hit on the west side of the city of Spokane about 10 days ago, uh the fires were not in the process of being put out in 15 or 20 minutes.
00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.960
The homes, for the most part, burned right to the ground.
00:00:51.200 --> 00:01:04.400
So if you or somebody you know lost a home in the Spokane area of fires and had a safe inside, well, I wanted to talk to David Balastrasti, who is vice president of Northwest SAFE, which I thought made a very generous offer.
00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.760
David, welcome to the program.
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:06.400
How are you?
00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:07.760
I'm doing great, Lars.
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:08.480
Thanks for having me.
00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:17.200
Hey, and by the way, thank you for doing this because I saw this early on and I said we need to get a hold of David, but I have a feeling you had a pretty full dance card the last 10 days.
00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:31.280
Um, what is it you were telling uh people in the Spokane area if they had a fire and chances are their safe was not going to open the conventional way when they got back to their home, what was it the Northwest Safe offered to do?
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:42.719
Yeah, so one of the important things after your safe goes through a fire, of course, is to get that thing opened back up and get your contents out so you can get them cleaned and taken care of.
00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:52.879
And a lot of times something like this can be covered under uh, you know, your insurance or your safe's warranty, but there's often a big time delay.
00:01:52.959 --> 00:02:14.080
And what we're able to offer is we dropped basically what we were doing, sent a crew over there uh to where they were basically as soon as customers were able to access their home, we were able to uh help them in many cases the same day and get their safe opened up uh to give them that opportunity.
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.280
All right now we're doing it for free, whether you were, you know, whether the safe was purchased from us or not.
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:34.319
And and I thought that was the especially generous part of all this, except that David, in those cases where the the homes went, you know, burned to the ground and there really wasn't any meaningful response because you had hundreds and hundreds of homes on fire all at the same time.
00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.439
What what have people found inside the safes?
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.439
I've I've only seen bad news so far.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:43.039
I imagine if there's any good news, you'd be the guy to tell us about it.
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:52.240
Can you tell us about both those people who found nothing useful inside and those who who were able to recover their uh their their prized possessions?
00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:53.280
Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:02.240
So the reality is most safes are not designed to withstand a typical, I should say a complete burn down like what we're seeing in Spokane.
00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:11.120
So we're seeing a lot of safes in you know basements, and the the only thing left standing is maybe the foundation and the actual safe.
00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:19.599
Uh when you look at your typical gun safe that's rated for 1200 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour is really the most common ratings that you're gonna see.
00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.520
There's just really no hope for something to survive like that.
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.840
So unfortunately, most of what you're seeing is not great news, like you said.
00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:49.120
However, for those customers that, you know, invested in something heavier, something with a two-hour fire rating, you know, heavier construction, we're actually seeing some success stories to where, you know, a a majority of what's coming out of the safe survived and is salvageable.
00:03:49.680 --> 00:04:06.000
See, and even in those cases, it's not everything because I had uh my friend Dan Mitchell point out to me that, you know, if you've got paperwork in there that goes with your guns, as I do in my safe, uh when when it hits four or five hundred degrees, the paper is probably going to spontaneously combust, isn't it?
00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:17.759
It is, but one of the things uh that we're you know really you kind of always know but reiterate with these fires is your safe is the first level of protection.
00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.560
And there's then there's things that you can do above and beyond that.
00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:30.480
So whether it's a cheap little firebox or Tupperware or a cardboard box, we're seeing that make a substantial difference really in what the yeah, absolutely.
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:32.079
A cardboard box.
00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.439
Literally, guys that take so think of it like this, right?
00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:41.040
You have a serious house fire and you have one room with a door open and one room with a door closed.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.480
Uh, I don't know if you've seen those comparisons, but the room with an open door, it's gonna be complete loss.
00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.560
Room with a closed door might be saved.
00:04:48.800 --> 00:05:04.000
So little steps like that can make a huge difference because we're seeing, you know, basically a gun that might be just in the safe by itself fare far worse than a gun that's left in the case or or like I said, the cardboard box it came in.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:18.879
So those those little things, you know, a cheap gun sock, you know, a ten dollar cotton gun sock that's impregnated with silicone and oil, that can make a substantial difference when it comes to the uh the finish of your firearm after it's gone through a serious fire.
00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.600
Let me ask you about something else, you can see that.
00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.879
I'm talking to David Belastrassi, who's vice president of Northwest Safe.
00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:34.639
If you've got the room and somebody's got a safe and they say have it in their garage, can you go out and build a cinder block, uh uh basically box around that safe and make it safer?
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:36.639
Absolutely.
00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.000
And you can do that with even sheetrocks.
00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.160
Uh, but of course, concrete cinder blocks would be would be superior.
00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.240
And some people had done that.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.759
What was the most what was the biggest success story you've got so far to come out of the Spokane fires?
00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.600
Do you care about sharing that?
00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:02.800
The the really we've had so Jeff opened 24 safes in the time that he was there last week.
00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.319
And of those 24, we had basically two that fared well.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.720
And one safe contents it salvaged around 60%, the other was around 40%.
00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:21.680
Uh and again, this this was something that was a heavier constructed safe.
00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.319
Well, that's something anyway, but it's it's a tough spot for all these people.
00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:31.199
And you know the other thing, and I know David, it's outside of your lane, but I did a commentary on it.
00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:32.319
I said, imagine this.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:43.920
You've lost some of your most prized possessions, and in many cases, the kind of guns people have, and I have some of these, they're not allowed by the state of Washington to buy uh a gun to replace them because they're not gonna be able to do that.
00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:45.040
Absolutely, right?
00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:46.160
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:55.279
Yeah, so if you have something like an AR-15 uh and it goes through a fire and it's lost, you can't just go to the store and get it get it replaced.
00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:58.560
You cannot go to gun shop and replace that firearm anymore.
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.319
You know what I'd love to see?
00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:18.240
I'd love to see and I don't think it's likely, but in the state of Washington and state of Oregon, I wish they would write an addendum to these prohibitions saying if you already owned the gun and had owned it, you know, for some period of time before a fire or a destructive loss like that, we will let you replace that gun.
00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:25.600
Now that would be something that would actually show good faith between the anti-gunners out there and uh and common sense.
00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.600
But that's David Balastrassi.
00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.759
He's vice president of Northwest Safe.
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:30.800
David, thanks very much.
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:31.839
I appreciate the time.
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:32.800
Back in a moment.
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.279
You're listening to the Lars Larson Show and the Radio Northwest Network.
00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.919
Hey, welcome back to the Lars, Larson show.
00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.000
I guess you could say I have a dog in the fight.
00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:08.880
Do I own guns?
00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:09.599
I own guns.
00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:10.640
Do I own a safe?
00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:11.919
Yes, I own a safe.
00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:17.440
Do I count on that safe to keep those guns safe if there is a fire in my house?
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:25.839
Yeah, except that most of the time, if you have a fire in somebody's house, uh that fire is called into the fire department.
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:48.000
And even if the fire department is moving very, very slowly, they are at the house and trying to put the fire out within, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes at most, except in the case of Spokane, when all those wildfires hit on the west side of the city of Spokane about 10 days ago, uh the fires were not in the process of being put out in 15 or 20 minutes.
00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.960
The homes, for the most part, burned right to the ground.
00:00:51.200 --> 00:01:04.400
So if you or somebody you know lost a home in the Spokane area of fires and had a safe inside, well, I wanted to talk to David Balastrasti, who is vice president of Northwest SAFE, which I thought made a very generous offer.
00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.760
David, welcome to the program.
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:06.400
How are you?
00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:07.760
I'm doing great, Lars.
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:08.480
Thanks for having me.
00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:17.200
Hey, and by the way, thank you for doing this because I saw this early on and I said we need to get a hold of David, but I have a feeling you had a pretty full dance card the last 10 days.
00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:31.280
Um, what is it you were telling uh people in the Spokane area if they had a fire and chances are their safe was not going to open the conventional way when they got back to their home, what was it the Northwest Safe offered to do?
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:42.719
Yeah, so one of the important things after your safe goes through a fire, of course, is to get that thing opened back up and get your contents out so you can get them cleaned and taken care of.
00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:52.879
And a lot of times something like this can be covered under uh, you know, your insurance or your safe's warranty, but there's often a big time delay.
00:01:52.959 --> 00:02:14.080
And what we're able to offer is we dropped basically what we were doing, sent a crew over there uh to where they were basically as soon as customers were able to access their home, we were able to uh help them in many cases the same day and get their safe opened up uh to give them that opportunity.
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.280
All right now we're doing it for free, whether you were, you know, whether the safe was purchased from us or not.
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:34.319
And and I thought that was the especially generous part of all this, except that David, in those cases where the the homes went, you know, burned to the ground and there really wasn't any meaningful response because you had hundreds and hundreds of homes on fire all at the same time.
00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.439
What what have people found inside the safes?
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.439
I've I've only seen bad news so far.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:43.039
I imagine if there's any good news, you'd be the guy to tell us about it.
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:52.240
Can you tell us about both those people who found nothing useful inside and those who who were able to recover their uh their their prized possessions?
00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:53.280
Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:02.240
So the reality is most safes are not designed to withstand a typical, I should say a complete burn down like what we're seeing in Spokane.
00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:11.120
So we're seeing a lot of safes in you know basements, and the the only thing left standing is maybe the foundation and the actual safe.
00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:19.599
Uh when you look at your typical gun safe that's rated for 1200 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour is really the most common ratings that you're gonna see.
00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.520
There's just really no hope for something to survive like that.
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.840
So unfortunately, most of what you're seeing is not great news, like you said.
00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:49.120
However, for those customers that, you know, invested in something heavier, something with a two-hour fire rating, you know, heavier construction, we're actually seeing some success stories to where, you know, a a majority of what's coming out of the safe survived and is salvageable.
00:03:49.680 --> 00:04:06.000
See, and even in those cases, it's not everything because I had uh my friend Dan Mitchell point out to me that, you know, if you've got paperwork in there that goes with your guns, as I do in my safe, uh when when it hits four or five hundred degrees, the paper is probably going to spontaneously combust, isn't it?
00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:17.759
It is, but one of the things uh that we're you know really you kind of always know but reiterate with these fires is your safe is the first level of protection.
00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.560
And there's then there's things that you can do above and beyond that.
00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:30.480
So whether it's a cheap little firebox or Tupperware or a cardboard box, we're seeing that make a substantial difference really in what the yeah, absolutely.
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:32.079
A cardboard box.
00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.439
Literally, guys that take so think of it like this, right?
00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:41.040
You have a serious house fire and you have one room with a door open and one room with a door closed.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.480
Uh, I don't know if you've seen those comparisons, but the room with an open door, it's gonna be complete loss.
00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.560
Room with a closed door might be saved.
00:04:48.800 --> 00:05:04.000
So little steps like that can make a huge difference because we're seeing, you know, basically a gun that might be just in the safe by itself fare far worse than a gun that's left in the case or or like I said, the cardboard box it came in.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:18.879
So those those little things, you know, a cheap gun sock, you know, a ten dollar cotton gun sock that's impregnated with silicone and oil, that can make a substantial difference when it comes to the uh the finish of your firearm after it's gone through a serious fire.
00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.600
Let me ask you about something else, you can see that.
00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.879
I'm talking to David Belastrassi, who's vice president of Northwest Safe.
00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:34.639
If you've got the room and somebody's got a safe and they say have it in their garage, can you go out and build a cinder block, uh uh basically box around that safe and make it safer?
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:36.639
Absolutely.
00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.000
And you can do that with even sheetrocks.
00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.160
Uh, but of course, concrete cinder blocks would be would be superior.
00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.240
And some people had done that.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.759
What was the most what was the biggest success story you've got so far to come out of the Spokane fires?
00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.600
Do you care about sharing that?
00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:02.800
The the really we've had so Jeff opened 24 safes in the time that he was there last week.
00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.319
And of those 24, we had basically two that fared well.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.720
And one safe contents it salvaged around 60%, the other was around 40%.
00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:21.680
Uh and again, this this was something that was a heavier constructed safe.
00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.319
Well, that's something anyway, but it's it's a tough spot for all these people.
00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:31.199
And you know the other thing, and I know David, it's outside of your lane, but I did a commentary on it.
00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:32.319
I said, imagine this.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:43.920
You've lost some of your most prized possessions, and in many cases, the kind of guns people have, and I have some of these, they're not allowed by the state of Washington to buy uh a gun to replace them because they're not gonna be able to do that.
00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:45.040
Absolutely, right?
00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:46.160
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:55.279
Yeah, so if you have something like an AR-15 uh and it goes through a fire and it's lost, you can't just go to the store and get it get it replaced.
00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:58.560
You cannot go to gun shop and replace that firearm anymore.
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.319
You know what I'd love to see?
00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:18.240
I'd love to see and I don't think it's likely, but in the state of Washington and state of Oregon, I wish they would write an addendum to these prohibitions saying if you already owned the gun and had owned it, you know, for some period of time before a fire or a destructive loss like that, we will let you replace that gun.
00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:25.600
Now that would be something that would actually show good faith between the anti-gunners out there and uh and common sense.
00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.600
But that's David Balastrassi.
00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.759
He's vice president of Northwest Safe.
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:30.800
David, thanks very much.
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:31.839
I appreciate the time.
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:32.800
Back in a moment.
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.279
You're listening to the Lars Larson Show and the Radio Northwest Network.
