Threat of fire from audio equipment

An excerpt: "I didn't get much sleep that night, owing to the lingering stink—which had reached almost every corner of our home—and to my lingering worries about potential carcinogens. In the morning I set about cleaning the house, which proved a lengthy task: three days of scrubbing walls, ceilings, hardwood floors, and hardwood furniture, often multiple times—even after four washings, the wall behind the amp continued to reek—plus laundering bedsheets, pillowcases, slipcovers, and clothes that had been neither shut away in a closed drawer nor hung in a closed closet."

onhwy614 writes of an exploding transformer; the part in question appeared to be an electrolytic capacitor. He writes of a foul smell; what happened in Art Dudley's home was quite obviously  nothing so forgettable.

I'm as far from an engineer as one can get. I'm just a music lover who also appreciates good sound. I was very surprised by what I'd read in the Stereophile piece, and wondered if others, folks with more knowledge than I, might weigh in with some considered replies. I'm thankful to those who did.

-- Howard