Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority will issue a warning later this week to notify users of the unexpected way compact fluorescent light bulbs expire at the end of their long lifespan.

Ted Olechna, a provincial code engineer with the Mississauga-based authority, said he plans to post the warning on its website. The bulbs come to an end by charring around the base, producing smoke and emitting a bad smell.

Compact fluorescent bulbs can come to an end by charring around the base.
(CBC)

That has scared some homeowners into calling fire departments, he said. But there have been no reports of fires resulting from fluorescent bulbs in Ontario, Olechna said. 

The upcoming advisory will explain that this is the normal way for these energy-efficient bulbs, which can last up to 10,000 hours, to die.

It will also explain dos and don'ts for using the bulbs. For example, they need to be used in an open-light fixture rather than a closed-light fixture since they generate heat, the authority said.

The authority said the warning will be handy for homeowners, particularly since several provinces are considering banning incandescent bulbs in favour of fluorescent ones to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

They would be following in the footsteps of Australia, which last month promised to ban the use of incandescent bulbs in three years to lower emission levels.

In 2005, the authority issued a recall for Globe mini-spiral 13-watt lamps that were made between January 2002 and April 2003 after concluding that the parts could fail and melt a hole in the enclosure.