The 115V forward galley electrical outlet near the floor produced smoke and fumes. The flight statio...

Narrative:

On initial descent we smelled a burnt electrical smell. We donned our oxygen masks and called the flight attendants. They smelled it too and said they heard a pop in the forward galley. The smell dissipated quickly and we ran the cabin/lavatory fire checklist. One of the flight attendants said that the smell appeared to be coming from the electrical outlet near the floor in the forward galley. We got a phone patch with dispatch and maintenance control. Maintenance helped us isolate the circuit breaker for the vacuum outlet in the forward galley and it was indeed already popped. Since we were already in the descent; and the winter storm was closing airports everywhere in the area; I elected to continue to ZZZ where I knew the weather was well above minimums; the runway had just been treated; and the braking action was good. In retrospect; I should have declared an emergency. Even if the malfunction is isolated and identified; I will still declare an emergency in the future.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The 115V forward galley electrical outlet near the floor produced smoke and fumes. The flight station circuit breaker also popped. The smell dissipated and although the Smoke and Fume Checklist was completed the crew did not declare and emergency.

Narrative: On initial descent we smelled a burnt electrical smell. We donned our oxygen masks and called the flight attendants. They smelled it too and said they heard a pop in the forward galley. The smell dissipated quickly and we ran the Cabin/Lavatory Fire checklist. One of the flight attendants said that the smell appeared to be coming from the electrical outlet near the floor in the forward galley. We got a phone patch with dispatch and Maintenance Control. Maintenance helped us isolate the circuit breaker for the vacuum outlet in the forward galley and it was indeed already popped. Since we were already in the descent; and the winter storm was closing airports everywhere in the area; I elected to continue to ZZZ where I knew the weather was well above minimums; the runway had just been treated; and the braking action was good. In retrospect; I should have declared an emergency. Even if the malfunction is isolated and identified; I will still declare an emergency in the future.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	863832
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Wiring & Connectors
Person 1
Function	Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 219 Flight Crew Type 10500
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

The 115V forward galley electrical outlet near the floor produced smoke and fumes. The flight station circuit breaker also popped. The smell dissipated and although the smoke and fume checklist was completed the crew did not declare and emergency.