Fresh off my encounter with burning Target Halloween flashlights, I came to find out that I have given refuge to yet another product prone to spontaneous outbursts of fire -- Handy Switch.

About 1.3 million of these remote control light switches are being recalled by Idea Village Products Corp., the U.S. distributor of the Chinese-made product. Nine fires have been reporting due to the switch overheating, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. So, if you've got one, unplug it -- now.

I understand that there are some risks involved with bringing cheap Chinese-made products into one's home. But here's the thing: I bought the switch to test it for reviews I do of As Seen on TV products. It was for work.


I admit that I did like the idea of it -- giving consumers a cheap way out of solving the problem of not having a light switch in the right place.But my wife -- who has already expressed her concern over the probability that nearly anything I bring into the house is capable of causing some kind of property damage -- made me feel bad about testing it in one of the kids' rooms.

Luckily, my Handy Switch didn't work at all. If it was still on that bedroom wall today before I learned of the recall, I would have been guilt-ridden.

Now I am waiting for the remedy afforded all of us purchasers of Handy Switch -- either a new switch or a snap-on cover (hopefully made of some kind of flame retardant material). For the other more than a million of you out there with one of these, visit the company's Web site to register to have the solution to this burning problem sent to your house.

This nifty infomercial product that might or might not work, but does now officially pose a danger, was sold since March 2007 for $10-$15 at stores nationwide in addition to on the Web and through infomercial sales. The model number KS-080 is printed on the back of the receiver.

For more information, call Idea Village at (888) 655-4339 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

By the way, it has been a couple of weeks since Target pulled its burning flashlights from store shelves nationwide. But as Halloween fast approaches, what about all the people who had already purchased them?

It's time for an official recall so me and Dave Savini at WBBM in Chicago aren't the only ones warning people.