So this is the reason why I am up at an unreasonable hour: having been awoken by a dry mouth and the need for milk, I go into the kitchen to find that one of my tardblog housemates has left the hob on all night. I remove the giant saucepan from the hob to find it glowing orange. ORANGE.

After I turned it off, it spent the next 5 minutes making crackling sounds.

I'm going back to bed, but does anyone have any similar stories of almost burning their house down through bad luck/negligence/willingness to cash in on an insurance claim/other?