Filing Cabinets 2 Hour Test with fire protection ensure your important documents are safe in the event of fire. With various levels of protection these cabinets are essential for any office holding company documents. A filing cabinet is usually used to store paper documents . In the most simple sense, it is an enclosure for drawers in which items are stored. The two most common forms of filing cabinets are Fire files. A vertical file cabinet has drawers that extend from the short side (typically 15 inches) of the cabinet.