Pyrophobic

What are you afraid of?

Not many people know I am pyrophobic. My fear of fire has its origin when I was a little nine years old. Our stove then was a kerosene stove, the pressurized burner portable type. One time, as it was being put to use, I saw the fire coming from it billowed up, almost touching our ceiling. It was good that the one who operated it (can't recall now who s/he was) had a presence of mind that s/he was able to release the air and turn off the pump knob. Since then, I never wanted to go near or, worse, operate a kerosene stove.


That incident was aggravated by another one, this time involving a van that was set on fire. I was doing my assignment then when suddenly I heard an automotive screeched in front of our house, which was along a boulevard. After that, I heard a commotion as people were shouting that the van was on fire. When I went out, I saw that the van was indeed flaming. Out of fear and shock, I hurriedly left the house without my slippers. Fortunately, the automotive did not explode and our house was saved. Also, no passengers were hurt as they were able to alight even before the car was consumed by fire. Years before that, a similar incident happened also along that boulevard where there were two or three casualties. I did not see it as I was still living in another place then but I just came to know about it through those who witnessed it.

Until now, I am still afraid to turn on our gas stove but I am trying to overcome this fear. My wife knows how "praning" I become whenever our automatic ignition gas stove would not ignite after many attempts. Even in the office, whenever somebody would heat their food in the microwave, I tell them never to leave until they are done with it.

I don't know if there will come a time when I will finally overcome this fear of fire. I just hope so.