One thing to be said for incandescent light bulbs ...

[unixronin]

... is that I've never seen one do this.

Update:  I just talked to Sylvania.  In addition to replacing this lamp and the one other failed CFL we have (a 40W unit that flickers), they want to see this one for a failure analysis.  I rather expected they would, and I'm glad they didn't disappoint me.

Comments

[ehintz.livejournal.com]

There was a fair bit of press about this sort of failure down here back in August. Fire Service had a memo up on our internal website advising to be on the lookout for fires started by these things... Near as I can tell though, it sounds like it may be specific to the EcoBulb brand rather than CFLs in general-the above example not withstanding (heya! How's things hot stuff? :D ).

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4656117a6000.html
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/18804/minister-denies-light-bulb-safety-issues