This bank vault was locked and we had to break into it. It was a fireproof vault and the door itself was 12 inches thick and weighed 1,500 pounds. This was on the 13th floor of a high rise building in the financial district of New York City, on Broadway.
This building used to be owned by John D Rockefeller (AKA Standard Motor Oil).
The tenant was moving off the floor and had to remove anything that they had built into the space, which included a vault which dated back to 1992 and was used for stock certificates.
The wall and ceiling panels were hollow metal shells, stuffed with 10 inches of solid wood. The panels were extremely heavy and had a 3 - 4 hour fire rating. This vault was put together like a puzzle. Once the panels were placed together, they were welded together on the inside.
Because they were wood, we could not use a cutting torch.
