Just purchased house, moved in, put clothes in existing dryer that came with house, turned the Temperature selector knob from Easy Care to Cotton and -POOF- sparks flew, smoke rose from rear left of dryer.

Pulled out the dryer, looked for char marks, none seen. Turned machine to start (on Easy care), motor ran, heated, but not hot.
Contacted seller, he stated the machine may be 3 yrs old at best, only used a dozen times (his vacation home); no warranty remains.
Stopped machine, unplugged, examined venting (up through ceiling), ran wet-vac hose all the way up to roof and sucked out mass of lint.
Dismantled machine, found blue wire that runs from the outer heater coil to the biased control inlet thermostat MELTED just prior to where it couples to the blue jumper wire on the thermostat. Nifty little hole through which I can see daylight now a new feature on my machine.:)

Now, I'm just a woman with basic tools, no ohmmeter or knowledge to use one, and barely able to read the schematic found in the machine casing.
Should I remove the other two thermostats and haul them all to an appliance parts counter and ask them to check them?

Am I wrong to think that if the machine could not vent properly, a safety feature on the machine would open a circuit to prevent fire? Melting wire does not make sense.
Any guidance or info is appreciated.