These cars have a couple issues regarding “fire” concerns. (1) in any brand of passenger car where the two pickup rollers are bridged internally to avoid lamp flicker on switches, there is the possibility of a short should either roller come to rest on an outside rail in a derailment. If the wire gauge were sufficient, it would just get very hot before tripping a breaker (if there is one). My 28 K-Line cars had very light gauge wiring so that the wire would char and need replacement. The first time it happened, it was of course in a diner car (grease fire in the kitchen? . . . great amusement at the club). (2) K-Line’s foreign assemblers were notoriously stingy with their wire and often didn’t supply sufficient slack to allow free truck swivel. This caused the wire to be cut through by the very sharp edges of the light bulb openings in the grounded metal floor.
A wiring upgrade is a good idea in either case.
To ease concern, you may be blessed with ample quantities of shmoke und Shtink in a derailment, but most likely you will cut the power before orange flame would present. I have always loved these cars and have considered them well worth any effort required to re-engineer their electrical shortcomings.
