Fire in the ....Oven?

You've read on Susie's blogspot that we had a "fire". Here's the gruesome details.

It started as a couple of quick pizzas in the oven, so I could eat something before leaving for conference. It ended up with two pizzas in the garbage and , missing the first half hour of conference.

When it started, Susie noticed a spot on the right side of the heating element that was shining brighter than the rest. Our thought was that something had spilled on it and that it was burning off. We closed the oven and let the pizza's bake. Coming back we could see that it slowly progressed, like a giant slow motion sparkler on the fourth of July, burning along the element, leaving a somewhat charred version of itself in its wake. After 15 minutes (the pizza was supposedly done, but not really), and turning off the oven the coil kept burning... and the unburned coil kept growing brighter and brighter.

We decided that it was time to get serious about putting the fire out. (Shutting off the oven didn't stop the fire). As class D extinguishers have NaCl (or so I'm told), Chaelomen tried smothering it with salt. It kept on burning. Next trick was the ABC extinguisher in the garage... again no effect. At this point the smoke form the oven has set off the smoke detectors (we have 11 interconnected detectors in the house), so we opened windows for ventilation and evacuated the house.... and called 911.

I figured we were in no great danger, as the fire was confined to the oven, but was not too comfortable with a fire that I couldn't put out... I was worried about it progressing to wiring that was not in the oven. I called 911 to get some advise as to how to put out the fire. I was transferred from the 911 operator that the cell phone connects to, to a more local 911 operator,... provided all the information, the fire department was dispatched, and the 911 operator told me to call back if there were additional problems.

15 minutes after I called 911, I got a call from 911. Prior to that, we'd pulled out the stove from its cubbyhole in the kitchen, just to make sure nothing was going on behind the stove (there was... a mouse hole in the corner, but that's another story). As the fire was still burning, I decided it was safest to cut the power to the range at the breaker box (even though the oven control indicated "OFF". The fire died out.

Anyway, 911 called... The fire department couldn't find us. As I was giving directions, the fire engine pulled up. They'd been dispatched from a station 8 miles away - - - the closest stations were all busy with a big fire north of us. They came in the house, took a report on the make, model, and age of the range, nature of the fire and our efforts to put it out, pronounced the fire scene safe, mourned with us at the loss of our pizzas, let Jack-Jack see the fire truck... and left.

In all seriousness, we were very lucky. I don't know what a metal fire could have burned through and / or burned if it had been left unattended, but I have a vivid enough imagination.

I am curious about what was actually burning in the oven's heating element. After all, it's supposed to get hot and not burn, right? Any thoughts?