Globe CFL Bulb - Warning

I turned on my Globe CFL Bulb the other day and then smelled smoke after a few minutes. Four inch flames were spewing out of the side of the ballast like a blow torch! Iimmediately turned off the lights. But I'm sure it would have caused afire if I was not right there. Imagine if the kids had left the lights onas usual when they were not in the room. I took the bulb to the Fire Department to report the incident. TheFireman wasn't at all surprised and said that it was not an uncommonoccurrence. Apparently, sometimes when the bulb burns out there is achance that the ballast can start a fire. He told me that the FireMarshall had issued reports about the dangers of these bulbs. Upon doing some Internet research, it seems that bulbs made by Globe in China seem to have the lions share of problems. Lots of fires havebeen blamed on misuse of CFL bulbs, like using them in recessed lighting,pot lights, dimmers or in track lighting. Mine was installed in a normallight socket. I bought these at Wal-Mart. I will be removing all the Globe bulbs frommy house. CFL bulbs are a great energy saver but make sure you buy a namebrand like Sylvania , Phillips or GE and not the ones from China.