Our standard practice for years has been to turn the kiln on and ignore it until its firing cycle is finished. In all the years I've been doing glass work, the ONLY fire I ever heard of caused by a kiln was when the fool owner placed it directly on a wood table without the kiln's metal stand.
Kilns can withstand and contain 2400 deg temperatures. In the event of a runaway relay, the only thing that will happen is it'll heat up high enough and long to burn out an element - at which time the circuit breaker kicks and the kiln turns off. Your only concern is how much electricity it sucks up before it pops the breaker.
The reason we buy kilns with digital controllers is precisely so we can leave them unattended. We have 6 kilns going and ALWAYS leave them running when we leave. As to the fireman being concerned....he's either misinformed or needlessly over cautious. Our fire inspector is aware of our kiln firing practice and has approved it for our fire insurance policy.
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Dennis Brady
DeBrady Glassworks
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