Good point! I am so glad you weren't away on vacation or gone for a long time...that could have been a real tragedy. PTL.
Michelle

Wow...thank GOD you were home and got that stopped! That's one UGLY LOOKING IRON.

Years ago I had a "Shark" iron go evil on me and it overheated clear into the cord, but didn't melt down. Later I saw a big recall on Sharks but I had already thrown mine away.

Thanks for the warning AND graphic photos to back up the warning! A picture is worth 1000 words!!

You were very lucky. I found that even though I turned my iron off but left it plugged in it still felt a little warm to the touch. Now I unplug it.

Even though I have everything on power strips, before I leave my sewing room, my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder compels me to go a step further and unplug everything!! So glad it was only an iron you lost - could have been so much worse!

wow..thanks for sharing....I am going to put all of my things on serge protectors..my iron is a cordless so the base stays plugged in..wonder if that matters...it has been plugged in for 6 years now...

Glad everything was okay. I usually try to unplug my iron, though I have been bad and forgotten on occasion. Same with my FW. Everything is on a powerstrip, but agreed it won't prevent a fire if the appliance shorts itself.

The same with dryers. I never leave mine on when I go to bed or when I leave the house. 30 years ago,I had a Sears dryer that had recently been fixed. We went to bed with the dryer running

. It was supposed to turn itself off, but did not. When we woke up in the morning the house was on fire. We made it out alive, but the firemen were surprised and said we would not have lastede 10 more minutes in the house.

so glad you all found it in time.I still use my Gramma's old cloth cord irons -so I've always unplugged them before leaving the room.The only new lite wgt iron I ever owned was suppose to shut off on its own and in the few minutes it took to use the bathroom it burnt through the top of my ironing board and it took days to get rid of that smell and now I use a trivet to set the irons on instead of on the board.

Thanks for the reminder. I keep mine plugged into a power strip that has a light plugged into it also and just turn off the power strip when leaving the room. I don't think I'll rely on that anymore! I'll unplug it completely!

Lucky you! About that long ago,we had a neighbor who left the dryer on automatic shut off.They went to the city Christmas shopping & got home late at nt,to a burned down house.

BTW,my DH was home,getting ready for work & he saw the TV OFF light was on. He went to turn it off & that fast realized it wasn't the light,but refection of fire inside the TV.He was able to lift it & I came home to find the TV in the yard....LOL .. our house would have been gone if he hadn't noticed the light.

Was 2 good lessons for me.I turn off everything....everything & I do not trust auto off.