As most everybody knows, gasoline has a nasty habit of exploding into a ball of flames when approached by fire. When gasoline is used correctly, it is quite safe. When used without regard to safety, a potential tragedy awaits. Each year in the United States about 40,000 people are burned in gasoline-related accidents. Gasoline and other flammable liquids rank ninth out of 375 on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Hazard Index, a rating based on how frequently and how badly people are hurt.
Most accidents involving gasoline occur when it is being used as a cleaning agent.
The biggest problem here is that people don't realize how quickly it vaporizes and that its invisible vapors are heavier than air. The vapors can spread along the floor to a water heater, an electric motor or something else which serves as a source of ignition. Some accidents occur when people use it to start a fire in a fireplace. They don't realize that throwing a cupful of gasoline on some logs and then lighting it is about as dangerous as lighting a firecracker with a stick of dynamite. If you do decide to ignore common sense and insist on using gasoline for various other functions, you may obtain some undesired firefighting skills.