>>They had a cargo fire warning, fired the bottle and extinguished it? Then held to speak to ops? Then got another warning and diverted? How long were they in the hold?
I really don't see the problem. As far as they were concerned it was out.<<
Well, I guess AC thought their DC-9 lav fire was out, with fatal results.
See:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/1983/830602-1.htm
And perhaps going into holding with a cargo fire warning is still normal procedure with some carriers.
In the U.S. we would go into holding to complete lengthy electrical fire checklists in the sim years ago. Part of this was artificial to get the FE training done before the landings. Even in modern aircraft, some of these legacy checklists continue e.g. the SR111 MD-11 captain wanted to press on with a long electrical checklist while the FO wanted to get the plane on the ground. Sadly, they were overtaken by events.
After some of the accidents mentioned above, recent emphasis in "North" American training has been to land ASAP. You can see from the comments above, attitudes toward the holding request tend to be more skeptical on this side of the pond.
Like everyone else, I am thrilled that the outcome was good.
Dubai is a garden spot, just keep me out of the Cyclone next time it is raided <g>.