What would be your first thoughts as you run from your smoking car?

‘I’ve seen car explosions. I saw poor Apollonia go up in The Godfather," writes Aida Austin. 

9.40 p.m. I’m jogging along the side of the road away from my car. I am aiming for a safe distance from an explosion, should one occur. I look back at my car. It’s parked lopsidedly just up from a bend in the road, half-way in a shallow roadside ditch and a sky-blue suitcase lies unzipped on the grass behind it, with contents spilling out. Smoke is billowing from the back. I keep jogging. The going’s tough in flip-flops. I glance over my shoulder again. The smoke is no longer billowing or black. Now, it’s more like steam. Plus the sparks have stopped flying up from underneath the back wheel. Cutting the engine must have helped. And the soft veil of drizzle that’s just descended over Cork. Things are looking good, I feel, but I jog on all the same; it only takes one spark to ignite a fire when conditions are right and there might be a residual spark flickering somewhere under the car where the rain can’t reach. Like near the petrol tank, where things are dry and hot.

Darkness has fallen. It is hard not to catastrophise in the dark. I mean, I’ve seen car explosions. I saw poor Apollonia go up in The Godfather. Just like that. Bits of car flying everywhere. I must remember to duck. No. Dive. Into a bush, like Michael Corleone did.I jog on another few yards; I can’t stop mulling over the old saying, “there’s no smoke without fire”. I suspect this might be one of those old hypotheses originating from hard fact that stands up well to testing. I need to position myself well away from the testing area.