Yes, that's a standard BT telephone outlet on the wall with a line disappearing somewhere into the tangle of wires.
It looks like a multi-way adapter and phone cord connected at the left-hand end of the white extension strip as well. It's probably one of those surge-suppressor strips that incorporate a telephone feed through.
Hol-eee geez.... How'd you (or the person who made this shot) cause this to happen?
What was plugged into it and shouldn't the fuse or -- now more commonly -- circuit breaker normally built into these things have popped and cut the current flow?
I thought these things were supposed to be made out of a type of plastic that didn't burn......
[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 01-25-2004).]
Is (was) that foil looking stuff some kind of shielding? I guess I'll have to smash up one of these things to see what's inside...destructive testing is a "forte" of mine ...S
Holy Shiite! Anyway, I've had these things apart, and there's no conductive shielding or anything other than cheap plastic inside. Aside from some brass rails that form the outlet contacts.
i've seen a similar picture, where the fire was causes by a bad quality varistor (overvoltage/surge protection) that leaked internal insulation and got hot.