it shouldn’t have gotten hot enough to start melting aluminum…

zooophagous:

ranetree:

This is why they tell you not to leave candles burning unattended.

I was sitting upstairs in my room when I noticed a smell like candle smoke. I figured that my mom might have forgotten to blow out a candle before she left about two hours ago, and that the breeze coming through the windows had snuffed it out. Still, I decided to check on it, because I thought it strange that I would smell the smoke so clearly.

I could see no candles smoking or otherwise on the first floor, but the smell persisted. I tracked it down to our bathroom there.

Now, some background. When my mom has company over, she likes to set a small votive candle burning inside a fancy glass holder, and place that in the bathroom. She’d had had some ladies over this morning at around nine, and doubtless had done that.

Which means when I poked my head into the bathroom to investigate, this particular votive had been burning unattended for six hours.

When I opened the door, I saw that a corner of the glass holder had been blown away and had landed in the sink. The flame of the votive was burning far higher than that tiny candle had a right to burn. Probably because the flames were starting to consume the little aluminum cup that the wax had filled. Yeah, not only had the glass exploded, but the flame had gotten hot enough that it was starting to burn metal.

So please. Whether you’re trying to freshen up a room with a pumpkin spice candle you got to celebrate the season or are making offerings at a personal altar, do not leave your candles burning unattended.

Nothing stresses me out more than how blasé people can be about candles. They treat them almost like they’re not a real fire because they’re small. But thing about fire is, its always trying to get bigger. Don’t give it the opportunity.