I had a tea kettle that even had a whistle...
Put the kettle on my electric stove to boil some water for tea, then went to the bedroom to do something, got side-tracked and didn't hear the whistle. I eventually realized I had totally forgotten the tea kettle. Ran to the kitchen where the kettle was becoming one with the stove, long boiled dry and beginning to melt. So I grabbed a wooden cooking spoon, slid under the kettle handle and made a mad dash for the nearest door. I was married at the time, to a fireman, and lived in Phoenix with desert landscaping out front (non-flamable). I chucked the semi-melted kettle to ground out the front door and hosed it down. Fortunately for me my husband was on-duty at the time, and I didn't have a kitchen fire. It is not good to have careless fires at a firefighter's house. Went out and bought myself a new kettle, and made sure it looked a lot like the melted one did in it's pre-melted state. Husband never noticed the difference.

I now make it a point to stay in the kitchen when I put a kettle on the stove. And a watched pot does actually boil, it just takes a long time.