When to Call an Emergency Electrician in DFW (and What Can Wait Until Morning)

Call an electrician the same day if you smell burning near an outlet or the panel, feel heat at the panel, see sparking, lose power to part of the house, or have water near outlets, wiring or the panel. If there is smoke or flame, get everyone out and call 911 first. If a power line is down, including the line to your house, stay away and call 911. That line belongs to the utility, not to an electrician. Clements Electric provides same-day service from 7 AM to 7 PM Monday through Friday across Dallas-Fort Worth.

Is it an emergency? A quick triage list

The pattern behind the list: heat, smell, sound, sparks and water mean something is actively failing, and that is a same-day call. The mere absence of power, with none of those signs, usually is not. The stakes are real. The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that residential building electrical fires in 2021 caused 295 deaths and over $1.2 billion in property loss.

What should I do first?

1. If there is smoke or flame, get everyone out and call 911. Do not stay to find the breaker.
2. If you smell burning at one outlet or switch, switch off that circuit's breaker. If you cannot tell which one it is and the smell is strong, switch off the main.
3. Only touch the panel if you are standing somewhere dry and the panel is not hot. If the panel itself is the thing that is hot or buzzing, leave the cover on and keep people away from it.
4. Unplug only what you can reach without touching anything warm or discolored.
5. Do not take outlet covers or the panel cover off to investigate. The circuit may still be live.

Our guide to a burning smell from an outlet or panel goes deeper on what causes it and what happens when we arrive.

What if there is water near outlets, wiring or the panel?

Treat water and electricity as a do-not-touch situation. Ready.gov's flood guidance is direct: "Do not touch electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water. Turn off the electricity to prevent electric shock if it is safe to do so." If reaching the panel means walking through water, it is not safe, so stay out and call. A leak onto a panel, water in a ceiling light fixture, or an outdoor outlet under water all need an electrician to check the equipment before it is used again.

The power line to my house is down. Who do I call?

Not an electrician, at least not first. Downed lines are a 911 and utility matter. The City of University Park's outage page gives the standard advice: leave the area and call 911, do not touch the line or anything touching it, and keep children and pets away. If a line falls on your car, stay inside until help arrives. The same page lists Oncor, the delivery utility across most of DFW, at 888-313-4747.

Once Oncor has made the line safe, ask what they need repaired on your side before they can restore service. If a storm has pulled the mast, weatherhead or meter base off the house, that repair is where an electrician comes in, and it is work we do.

Half the house has no power. Whose problem is it?

A typical DFW home is fed by two 120-volt legs that combine to 240 volts. Lose one leg and roughly half the circuits go dead, while the air conditioner, electric dryer and range may stop or behave strangely. Lights that go noticeably brighter or dimmer when something large starts can point to a failing neutral connection, which we explain in why are my lights flickering.

• Check whether neighbors have the same problem. If they do, it is almost certainly on the utility side, so report it to Oncor.
• If it is only your house, report it to Oncor anyway. The fault may be on their side of the meter.
• Switch off the air conditioner and sensitive electronics until it is sorted.
• If Oncor finds nothing on their side, the problem is at your meter base, service conductors or panel. That is a same-day electrician call.

What can wait until morning?

• A single dead outlet with no warmth, smell or discoloration. Reset every GFCI in the house first, because that fixes most of them (here is how to check).
• A breaker that tripped once and held after you reset it. Note what was running at the time.
• One flickering bulb or fixture when the rest of the house is steady.
• A GFCI outside that tripped in the rain and resets and holds once things dry out. Test it the next day.
• Anything planned: new outlets, lighting, a panel upgrade, an EV charger.

What should not wait is a breaker that trips again the moment you reset it. That points to a fault in the wiring, and breaker keeps tripping explains how to tell an overload from a short.

What should I tell the dispatcher?

• What you see, smell or hear, and exactly where: which outlet, which room, the panel or outside
• What you have already done: breaker off, main off, appliances unplugged
• Which rooms or circuits are affected, and whether large 240-volt appliances still run
• The panel brand and rough age if you know it. Federal Pacific and Zinsco change what we bring.
• Whether anyone in the home relies on powered medical equipment
• Your address, gate or lockbox codes, pets, and where the panel is
• Photos, if you can take them without touching anything

That lets us send the right person with the right parts. The service call is a $240 diagnostic, credited toward the repair if you go ahead, and you get a written flat-rate quote before any repair begins.

When is Clements Electric available?

We answer 7 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Friday, with same-day service across Tarrant, Dallas, Johnson and Ellis counties, from Grand Prairie and Arlington to Mansfield, Fort Worth and Dallas. If something happens outside those hours, make it safe first: switch off the circuit or the main, call 911 for any smoke or fire, and call Oncor for anything involving their lines. Then call us when we open.