Some important words to adhere to!

Well I'm sure most of you would not be as stupid as I was. Today I was cleaning up the inside the housing on an old DANA 60 I found. I had it set up on jack stands in my basement with the opening tilted down so brake cleaner and gunk would run out into drain pan. I was spraying heavily and making good progress when out of nowhere, as fast as you could say "POOF" the entire area I was working in was ENGULFED IN FLAMES. There was no leading trail, just instant flames. i grabbed the pan with the fluid but must have spilt it as I dashed it to my exit door. which is no direct shot. My basement is full of clutter. When i got to the door I yelled HELP..... FIRE !!!!!!!!!!!!! then rushed right back in to try and extinguish the flames by this time which paper and cardboard were now joined in. I have a spigot on the wall near where I was working but no ready hose. I turned that on and let it drown the floor. I grabbed whatever I could that was burnig and threw it outside on my pavement. There was a large peice of cardboard on the floor where i was working and though burning I grabbed it and used it to stamp out the flames on the floor then I used a , now wet, shirt to extinguish all remaining flames and embers. Guys there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I could have extinguished these flames by myself and I give ALL the Thanks To GOD. My neighbor had come over with a fire extinguisher but by that time i had just won the war. I then tryid to figure out WHY this happened. There of coarse was plenty of fuel but nothing on the floor. Where did the ignition come from? 3 feet away was my boiler, and though summer is here and it's not in use, the pilot is still lit, which obviously ignited the FUMES and that ignited the drain pan and the diff. I know you're going to say, why didn't I call the fire Dept, and I won't condone this but had I done that, the time lost would have meant my entire basement and I would have been able to do nothing but watch half my house be destroyed by the time they arrived.
Guys please be careful, you may not be as lucky to have GOD on your side as I did today. Oh I also burned my hand and my leg, but it's fine. One other thing, 1 foot away from where the flames reach to, was a race jug with 5 gallons of fuel in it.