Thank goodness you were there and the fire didn't spread. Someone told me a long time ago about using a surge protector and plugging my iron and the lamp next to my ironing board to it. I use the on/off button on the surge protector to turn the system on and off. That way I know at a glance if my iron is on. If the light is on, the iron is on. Light off, iron off.

Oh gosh that is so scary! I am so glad you were home and attentive when it happened. I always unplug my iron when I am not using it - well, I always try to remember to unplug my iron when I am not using it. And it is because of stories like yours. Glad you are OK.

I am so glad you were home and in the room when the fire started - and that you were able to minimize damage, save your fabrics, homes and, most important, yourself!

My iron is on a surge protector, and a craft light is on the same surge protector. The light reminds me I was using the iron, so I need to turn it off.

I do this too.

I had an older iron I loved, and the thermostat went out (I think due to falling off the iron) so it super heated and that unlimited draw on electricity damaged the cord and it started to melt in places. I will say that between the time it was malfunctioning and the cord went, I loved having a super hot iron! Though I did accidentally melt some older poly/nylon thread and super shrink up some poly/cotton fabric.

I have been keeping my iron plugged into the same power strip that controls my track lighting in the sewing room, so I know if those lights are off, so is the iron. My current iron does have a long shutoff time, however I have reason to believe it's not working and the iron never shuts off on it's own. I never turn it on or off, just use the power strip to control it. The power strip is mounted to the wall right under the ironing board, so it can't get stepped on by the cats and turned on accidentally. If we are going out of town, I unplug the power strip from the wall.

I have an under cabinet light plugged into the surge protector that my iron is also plugged into. When I get done sewing for the day or taking a half hour break I turn it off. If light is off then my iron is off.

I'm so glad that no one was hurt!! It could have been tragic!

I have my iron plugged into an outlet that is attached to the switch on the wall. It is the kind of outlets that people use to have a table lamp that can be turned on and off with the wall switch. (I hope I'm explaining this well.) A lamp is also plugged into the same outlet, so when I flip the wall switch to 'off', both the lamp and the iron are off, because the outlet does not have any current running to it. (I know there must be an easier way to explain this, but I'm just a little old lady!) :)

Wow, that’s scary...I live in a late 1700s house and completely understand your concerns. Even though my iron has an automatic shut off..I still unplug it! I hope you can restore your ironing board surface easily.

Thanks for the warning, I just ordered the shut off from Amazon, lol!

Also did you know that if you have your iron on the same circuit as your computerized sewing machine that every time the iron heats up to temp off and on it surges the machine? How many times does the iron cool down and heats back up during a sewing session? It harms the machine over time and could be the problem of many woes when your machine starts acting up.