What does it mean when smoke comes out of an electrical outlet?

Question

I had a fan plugged into an outlet and turned on. I plugged a hair dryer into the same outlet (about 20 minutes after I turned on the fan) and as soon as I turned it on, smoke immediately started coming out of the outlet. I unplugged both the fan and hairdryer right away and could see bright orange inside of one of the holes in the outlet. Does this mean the outlet needs to be replaced or the wiring going to the outlet? Do I have faulty wiring in my house? (it's an old house - built around 1900) I'm afraid to plug anything into it now.

Answer 1

I had that happen yesterday and it scared me to death...I did not smell anything, just the smoke as I had rubbed something against the outlet too close.  My family works at fire dept so they called the local unit out.  The 3 fireman said the outlet was not hot and they did not see any evidence it had smoked.  He said if I did not use the outlet to get it plugged.  It scared me since this house is 60 yrs old but thats the first sign of anything I have seen....I just hope its not the start of something.  The box that ran up against it was plastic so maybe it went in the outlet, I just don't know...If the fireman did not see a problem and its been over 15 hrs, do you all think its ok?  I can't get anyone to plug it right away since I don't have any extra money, and the fireman said I did not have to do it right away.  Thanks!