The exploding rice reminds me so much of when I was backpacking through Europe. When I was in Stockholm, the hostel I was staying at had a basement kitchen with "free pasta".
Now, I don't know how people manage to burn pasta, but I was there for 3 nights (with me only in the building to sleep and wash, otherwise out in the city). Over those 3 nights the building fire alarm went off 7 times with me in the building, with 4 of those times being between 2-5am. By the end of it, we'd generally have someone in the room stick their head out the door, say "You burn pasta, no fire?", and on hearing yes, bury our heads in pillows until the alarm stopped.
We weren't overly safety conscious.
Mind you, I was worse by the end of my trip.
I remember in Madrid checking into one, and them saying, oh but sorry you won't be able to stay in the room just yet, one of the hot water tanks fell through the roof onto a bed. My only reaction was, that's fine, I'll just put my bag in my locker and go out touristing. It's scary in retrospect how your standards of "a safe place to spend the night" change.