Close Call

Flipped on the kitchen lights and left the room for five to ten minutes, came back and smelled something hot. Flipped the light switch because it was dark, and nothing came on.  Whoa, those lights were on when I left the room.

Smoke residue deposited on the cover over the ballast, and where the ballast was spewing.  It was too hot to handle.  This fixture is just a few years old, and had been fine the day before.  If I had left this light on and left home, I know that I would have come home to a pile of rubble.  Now I suspect every little curly-cue fluorescent light with a ballast in the base is a fire hazard, too.  I know they get hot.  We have been switching to LED lights, and I wonder what they will do as they age.