Smoke is absolutely possible without a fire. Have you ever seared any meat on an electric stovetop? Overheated an empty frying pan?
("solar panels!" sun is a ball of fire)
("nuclear power plant!" via what means was the steel in the brace for the control rods forged then? :D )
If something is smoking on your stove, it's worth paying attention to, whether it's because you're actively searing something on an electric or because your pan is empty.
My OP was the one you should come at with this tone lol, they were the ones that sidetracked off whether or not "if there's smoke, there's fire" is a useful idiom. Maybe a better question would have been, "though there's no actual fire, would not those instances of smoke still be worth noting?"
Shall we start thinking of times smoke is present, and not worth anyone's attention?
I don't feel the need to reply to every post I disagree with.