Not What You Want to See…
When you get home at close to 10pm from a long meeting, what you don’t want to get home to is a house with a strange odor and a slight haze in the living room. Nothing was obviously burning, and the smoke alarm was not going off (and we know it works…boiling water on the stove and hot shower steam have set it off in the past). Still somewhat worried, Tony called the non-emergency number for the fire department.
Meanwhile, Lindsay and Madeline and I headed for Wendy Rehm’s house. Though it was somewhat irrational, I was worried our house might explode or spontaneously combust. The fire truck pulled up on our street a few mintues later. Luckily, they didn’t wake up the neighborhood by turning on their lights and sirens!
After a very long 10 minutes or so, Tony called with the “all clear.” The culprit was a very hot old-school halogen light…the kind they banned from the dorms a few years back. We have a pair of white floor lamps of that variety given to us by, I think it was, the parents of Tony’s brother in law. I guess they may have to go, since they cause the paint on the wall to heat up and fill the house with fumes.
I feel a little silly that it turned out to just be a lamp, but it’s definitely better to be safe than sorry. That was our little adventure this evening. 
Wow. You actually called the fire department. My kids would have loved the adventure of it all.
I’m glad that you took the high ground on this. There’s no reason to put your family at risk with something of this nature.
Kirsten, b/c of this blog, Dan and I moved our halogen lamp away from the wall. Do you think that is sufficient or are they fire hazards in general?
I think it depends on the kind of lamp. Some of the newer ones are no hazzard at all, and the older ones I think are less hazardous if they have a screen of sorts over the top to prevent at least some stuff from falling in.
We ended up keeping one in the living room after all — since only one was actually causing the smoke. We just try not to leave it on when we are not in the house, and often don’t turn it up to the highest setting.
So, I guess we decided they are a managable hazzard for the time being at least. Don’t know if that really answers your question, but I don’t think there is one solid answer on this.
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