I made a major mistake, but fortunately it did not turn ugly. I was in a hurry to get out the door yesterday afternoon, I did a quick clean of the fire box and empty of the ashtray. BUT I forgot to put the covers back on the ashtray access holes from the firebox. I turned the stove back on and we left for almost 8 hours. We returned at 11pm and found that the fire spilling out all over the firebox, coming up through the access holes from ashtray and heading up the pellet chute. I immediately lifted the lid to stop pellets from feeding but did not want fans to go off. I was freaked out but did not reveal to my wife how dangerous the situation could have been. I did not turn it back on last night and just now cleaned it and fired it back up. It seems to be fine, but I learned a valuable lesson about complacency. That won't happen again.