Poor communications on my behalf.

Point 1 (insurance) was 'stuff happens' no matter what we plan for. It's why there is insurance for less than common events, like a water leak.

Point 2 (don't leave documents near the water) was to mitigate 'stuff happens'; to your point: don't burn the house down if you can avoid it. Under normal circumstances, I don't think leaving a properly functioning oven on for several hours is an inherently bad thing, present or not. If one were delayed it could be on for far longer than planned and that might raise the chances of unexpected consequences. But a properly functioning oven shouldn't cause a fire.

I had a longer comment in mind, but the short version of it is: Odds are, you're in more danger driving to the airport.

I appreciate that, and yes, I probably am in more danger driving to the airport. However, if I thought about that danger regularly, I'd never leave the house. :D

i would guess i have at least 10 electrical devices plugged in to wall sockets at all times. maybe 20, as i have a big house. 9 phones on chargers, and 5 clocks for openers. 6 battery chargers, 4 computers, 4 printers, copier, router network, fax, 2 scanners, tv, dvd, cable box, 2x computer speakers. wife leaves both washers, driers, and the dw running when leaving. 5 fridges.

we have a"fireprroof" box in the basement against an outside wall for the semi precious documents, and a saftey box for the really important stuff.

i'm too old to pull all those plugs. fire ins on a house costs less than a couple tenths of a percent of the value of the house. that indicates an insurance company is betting 1 to 10000 or better that your house will not burn down in a year.

Reminds me when my mother.. probably about 55 or so at the time.. left the oven on and forgot to turn it off.. Even after an insurance clean up, you could smell the burn in the home. Thank goodness she remembered that she left the oven on as we were travelling around visiting..

What was cooking in the oven was burnt to smithereens and festered the entire house with thick smoke.. My parents ended up selling the house but took years.. A nice house on the lake, where I grew up in my preteen years..

Fine
 

You should be alright, no problem! I do it all the time

Not sure if I trust a Flyers fan. :D :p j/k

then we go to the obvious extensions of that. maybe fridges blow up more often than ovens. pull that plug. i think there have been a lot of fires in tv's. pull the plug.

and as i said, we have the better part of 50 things plugged into the wall in our house. i'll skip further comments to avoid a confrontation.

Fine and dancy until something goes wrong.. Like I said the smoke was so thick, we were unlucky the house didn't burn down, as you couldn't get the smell out.. Literrally left all the doors open for days.. the stenchy smoke remained..

Had a heck of a time trying to sell the home.. took years, but finally went for a discount..

Leaving the doors or windows open for days wouldn't work well for us, with the two kibblers. That's part of why I'm so concerned, since smoke could cause an issue for them.

The house burning down is a concern.. but not in my wildest dreams did I think a smoke filled house would cause the concerns and heartache it did..

Albeit, it was the actual oven that burned the Roast.. If it was a counter oven, maybe it wouldn't have caused as much of the damage..

I wouldn't be using a countertop oven, but a full-size one, so it would be capable of doing a decent amount of damage, I'm sure.

Ok.. that's the oven that caused the smoke damage.. literally the smoke lingered for years even after the insurance cleanup.. ime not worth it to go through something like that.

Their home was 5,000 sq ft on three levels..

Better safe than sorry imho. You never know what can happen, including on the way to and from the airport, which could delay your return home much more than you anticipate.

Yuck! I'd hate to have the smell of smoke lingering like that.
This is true. I think this is why I'm going to just play it safe and wait until the next day to cook.

While I understand the concern, I just have to ask "How many times has your gas oven malfunctioned enough to cause you to intervene." In my case I've had gas for over 40 years with ZERO problems. We certainly leave things in the oven when we realize we need to run a short errand and haven't ever given it a second thought.