In order to prevent a loom from continuing to operate after burnout of hot wire cutters for cutting selvage, circuitry is provided to automatically stop operation of the loom upon hot wire cutter burnout. The circuitry preferably includes a conventional loom-stopping device associated with drop wires (for detecting warp end breakage) already associated with the loom. A coil is disposed in series with the hot wire cutters and operatively associated with a reed switch and an indicator light which are connected in parallel with the drop wires. The coil, reed switch, and indicator light can be readily retrofit to pre-existing loom components, and the indicator light allows the operator to determine whether loom stoppage is a result of hot wire cutter burnout, or warp end breakage.