Many of you may know this already, but I wanted to post this in case there is anybody who doesn't know how dangerous these candles can be.
Last night the power went out and we had to use candles to light the house. We had lit a number of wax candles, and one gel candle that my aunt had bought me for Christmas a few years ago.
When we went to bed, I wanted to keep at least one candle lit in the living room because I am not used to sleeping in a room that is completely dark. After considering all the places that Shiva might jump up on during the night, and the types of candles being used (housed in containers vs. standing on plates), I decided on the two candles - a wax candle the gel candle - that were on the shelves away from the areas where Shiva usually goes at night.
The gel candle was a beautiful watermelon scented candle with butterflies and other decorative items in the gel. The glass that it was housed in was very thick, and I thought it would be able to withstand the heat.
I was wrong.
Early this morning I was awakened by my roommate rushing past me. The power was back on and the lights were all on. I was about to comment on this when I noticed that he was trying to put out the gel candle which had caught on fire! The entire top of the candle was burning. I told my roommate to take it into the kitchen, and he replied, "I can't!"
That was when I went over to the shelf to see that the glass that housed the candle was broken and gel was leaking out everywhere. As I stood there wondering what to do, my roommate brought in a rag and tried to smother the flames. The fire quickly went out, but when he lifted the rag, the fire started right back up. He put the fire out again, and this time it stayed out.
As the swamp cooler aired out the house (the living room and kitchen were filled with a smokey haze and the stench of the burning gel), I took a closer look at what had happened. It appeared that the candle had actually exploded. There was glass on the floor and on the shelf with the candle, and the gel from the candle had liquefied was leaking onto the shelves and the floor.
If my roommate had not come in to the room when he did, it could have been so much worse!
I did a search on "gel candle fire" and found the page on snopes.com that confirms that these candles can be dangerous and should not be used for more than an hour or two at a time. So, if you have gel candles, please be careful with them. They heat up a lot more that the wax candles do (my wax candle was also still burning this morning and it was much, much, cooler than the gel candle), and they can 'explode' and start a fire if left burning too long.
