Should I try to start it

That's not being Debbie Downer; that's being Connie Common Sense. Anybody who doesn't have a fire extinguisher in their garage is stoopid!
Yes, absolutely- and what I was getting at is to have it THERE and ready, not hanging on the wall across the shop where you have to make a mad dash tripping over tools, creepers and air hoses to get to it- things can escalate in a hurry. I've been called paranoid, but I haven't burned my shop down yet...!