I have lots of very old very precious family photos in my apartment. And because of the research I am doing, I also have many historical family photos that belong to my relatives and that I am just borrowing. I have been researching fire/water damage safes and storage boxes and haven't come to a clear conclusion.

I thought I had come upon the perfect solution: First Alert 2037F. This unit allows photos to lay completely flat and is fire and water proof. However, reading into the user comments I discovered that many people had opened their safes after several years to discover the contents completely molded and destroyed. Not exactly what I want to have happen.

I live in San Francisco, home to earthquakes and close living quarters with the other tenants in my building as well as zero clearance between my building and the neighboring ones. I literally have nightmares of fires and earthquakes causing damage to my apartment and destroying 150+ years of family photos.

Any suggestions on how to protect family photos and documents without putting them at risk for additional damage?