We had a minor little fire in our kitchen with one of our electricity regulators. A few weeks ago, the kids started getting into playing with plastic beads that you can form a design with and then melt. We pulled the plastic beads out and used the iron just fine to melt them, so the kids wanted to use them again to make something for Briant for his birthday. This time, we actually had a fire inside the "black box," or electricity regulator. The iron fell asleep after not being used for a little while, and when I started using it again and it reheated, the fire started. The flames were coming out the top of the box vent, so I unplugged everything, turned the box off, and unplugged it from the wall as quickly as I could, and as the flames decreased in size, Briant carried it outside to our little porch to get the smoke outside. No extinguisher needed. We feel lucky, and blessed that I was right there, so I caught it quickly. The closest fire alarm is outside the kitchen, around the corner. Embassy facility workers came and assessed the situation. Apparently the GFCI-like thing next to the plug should have tripped when it got too hot to prevent the fire, but it didn't. A little scary for us.
Because of issues with poor electrical wiring/plugs in the past, we have said good-bye to two electric can openers, two music speakers, and an iron that fried months ago. We also almost lost our electric piano the day that the kids' 3 week winter break started in December, when Rhea accidentally plugged a U.S. cord into the Angolan side of the black box. Luckily the electric cord had a power supply with fuses in it, so those fried and stopped the electrical current from reaching the piano itself. We didn't know for sure if the piano survived, until the new replacement arrived 3 weeks later. We all breathed a deep sigh of relief when the piano turned on. We cannot live without our piano here--especially Thomas! Needless to say, we now have duct tape on all Angolan plugs so noone gets the plug wrong again!
Luckily even with this little fire, we didn't lose the iron or any of the appliances plugged into the box! Relief!
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