Steering Column Repair: Wont crank, s10 blazer, ohm meter

Question
I have a 94 S10 Blazer with the 4.3 vortec. The other day after I had stopped fro gas and went to start it up again nothing happened and smoke came out of the driver's side from the hood. I looked under  the hood and saw it was comming from the alternator. The wire coming back to the steering column, the ignition switch I presume, was the wire which was smoking. It is definitely shorting because I tested with an ohm meter from the wire to the ground wire from the battery and it came back 0 while the switch was at the start position. Would the ignition switch cause this?
Thanks,
Carl

Answer
Hi Carl:
I'm not sure what an ohm meter would have told you when you were checking a power wire to a ground.  It should have come up "0" because they are separate circuits.  If the red power lead was in fact the wire shorting out, then something cut into it, caused it to short and created the problem.  It's possible the ignition switch it the problem, but I wouldn't jump to that conclusion without first testing the entire circuit with a test light to see wire the power starts and stops.  That's where you will find the answer to your 'shorted circuit'.

Good luck
Doug