I have my iron plugged into a power bar along with the light. I was ironing one morning and a flame started shooting out where the cord attached to the iron scared me to death. But all I had to do was reach down and switch off the power bar, flame immediately went away. To say the least the iron went into the trash. I always have a light on when I am ironing, that way when I leave the room I make one last check that every thing is off by just looking into the room.