I started a fire unintentionally
When I was 4 or 5, my parents gave me a tape recorder for my birthday. The Tape recorder took four very large batteries to make it work, and I went throug a lot of those, so dad (being an Electronic Engineer) went off and made me a rechargeable battery pack that weighed twice as much as the damn tape recorder did, but lasted for HOURS.

All went well until one day, when I was playing with it on my bed. The cable connecting the battery to the tape recorder suddenly started smoking, the plastic on it melting, and then a small flame appeared....

I panicked, knew that fire on my bed was bad, so I lifted the unit wholesale with the intention on taking it outside.

Unfortunately, the cable was completely engulfed with flames by the time I got to the top of the stairs, so I dumped the unit on the carpet, and legged it down past my mum yelling "FIRE! FIRE UPSTAIRS!" at the top of my voice, and out to the water butt in the garden to fill a bucket of water.

By the time mum had gone upstairs, the cable had burned itself out. I joined her a minute or so later with as much water as I could carry at such a feeble age, and we just sat there inspecting the nice big singe in the carpet where I'd left the potential inferno. Shame it had been only been laid a mere month beforehand.

Dad got a right bollocking from mum when he got home (cable just wasn't rated for the power the tape recorder needed to draw). The singed carpet was trimmed down and really didn't look that bad afterwards.

But then, it was a hideous brown colour I've never liked. It's still there 23 years later. My parents have NO taste.
(Glis, Wed 3 Mar 2004, 1:26, Reply)