Well, I didn't know about the removing the headlights thing, that's good to know. If I were you I'd still try the vise grips thing, it's really not that bad and saves a lot of disassembly. But it's nice to know there's an alternative if it doesn't come free easily.
If you want to try the vise grips, crawl under, peel back the engine shroud if necessary and look up between the fans and the engine with a flashlight - you'll see if you think there's enough room.
On your question about fires, leaky fuel injectors are one common culprit (not that fires are common) and as mentioned the fuel rail is directly under the cable. If you ever smell gas around the injectors, don't drive it. A guy I know smelled gasoline and drove 3 miles to the dealer to get it fixed, and watched it burn up right outside the dealer's shop.