Electrical meltdown

[Tom Egbert]

  Had a similar situation 3 summers ago when my 225,000 mile car smoked me out. I had waited 10 minutes with A/C idling on a 89 degree day. Deadly smoke on the way home. Baled out; Started the car after 10 minutes. Barely made it home on what was left of the battery.   
    The  shop guessed alternator, battery puked or took each other out. When the voltage got low, the amperage goes up. 
     Replaced alt and battery and it ran fine. Stink went away after a  long time and it is running around Columbus Indiana now. 
      Never found what caused all the smoke behind the glove box. Everything worked that worked before, weird... 
                         
   
  Got a call this morning from The SO,  "the Car is on fire!!"
My first thought was a gas leak had started a fire under the hood.  I
 recently had some light gas smells from the pressure regulator to fuel
 manifold on occasion.
She sounded confused when I told her to use the extinguisher....turns
 out smoke was coming out of the passenger side of dash - from
 underneath.  Strong electrical BBQ smells remain.
Car didn't actually catch on fire. 
But I fear it might as well have!
Any known/typical/likely things to look for in that region? 
It was only 1 minute after leaving the driveway in the morning.
I need to determine if she turned on the dash fan to clear morning dew
 - thinking the fan might have melted down???
Thanks
Nat