Original poster: "Tim J by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <digital_raven45-at-hotmail-dot-com> I too had a similar thing happen! Some types of wire have a special thin coat of "short detector". Basically, a chemical substance which will burn a specific color to show the presence of an electrical fire/ short. It could be a Strontium based chemical impregnated plastic...