My Electrical Outlet Is On Fire - What Do I Do?
You should probably do what most people do, run around
yelling and screaming for help. Okay, forget what I just said, even
though that is what most people tend to do when there's a home emergency
like this.
Most electrical outlet fires starts when something is plugged in to the
outlet that is drawing more electricity than the outlet was originally
designed for. Most of the houses built today, have circuit breakers
installed to prevent things like this from happening, but that doesn't
guarantee anything. Just like everything else, sometimes electrical
breakers fail to shut off during an emergency.
If there is an electrical outlet fire, make sure that your children and
everyone else is in a safe location first, before anything else. Make
sure that your hands aren't wet and that you're not standing in the
water, before you even think about opening up the main electrical panel.
If you don't feel comfortable, contact 911 immediately.
If your electrical outlet catches on fire, the first thing that you're
going to want to do is turn the main electrical breaker off to the
house. If you don't know which one of your electrical breakers is the
main one, turn all of them off. You can safely assume that all of the
electrical breakers will be in the on position, but they should have on
and off sides that are clearly visible for help.
Now what do you do, when you're electrical outlet catches on fire and
you don't know where you're electrical breakers are located. You can
look for your electrical breakers in the main electrical panel, which
should be located near the electrical meter.
Most electrical meters and main electrical panels are going to be
located on the outside of your house, but they could be located in your
basement, if you have one. If you can't turn the electrical breakers off
or if the electrical outlet continues to burn and smoke, you should
contact your local fire department, because you're in the middle of a
home damage emergency.