Wow, sounds like I'm not the only one then. You were damn lucky to get out of that one Andrew & wavelandscott !
I think the moral of the story here is 1: As Starkler says...for both those reasons. 2: Make sure the smoke alarms are present & working, just in case you do what I & others have done (fall asleep with it on).
I was thinking about using one as a dew heater for the SCT too! I think I'll knock that project on the head