I have a healthy respect for fire gained in the CFA
Couple of anecdotes broadly aligned with this thread.
1. Flew with attractive young female in a Cessna 172 on her first dual cross-county flight from Essendon. She turns up wearing extremely short shorts. A bit distracting especially in such close proximity during the three sectors. On engine shutdown back at Essendon, I bit the bullet and tactfully suggested she wear clothing more suitable for future flying as an engine fire in flight could mean heat leaking through the rudder pedal area causing burns to bare limbs. Same with her sandals which showed her uncovered toes. She accepted the advice gracefully as no one had told her about this before.
2. During my time in the RAAF I was converting a senior officer to the four engined Lincoln bomber which invariably always had a slight smelt of petrol fumes in the cockpit because of the presence of fuel crossfeed cocks near the main spar. Some old aeroplanes have their own smell. For example the Dakota cockpit invariably has a whiff of hydraulic oil. The senior officer, a Wing Commander of about 40, took his place in the left seat and in the process of strapping in he suddently stopped and cautiously sniffed the air.
"Can you smell petrol" he asked me. I said it was a normal Lincoln smell.
"I don't care" said the Wingco. "We are not flying this aircraft" and with that he unstrapped and went back to his office, summoning me to follow him as he left the aircraft. In his office he told me he had flown Baltimore light bombers against the Germans during the Western Desert battles in WW2. These were flown single pilot apart from a navigator and gunner. He had watched one start its engines before takeoff. There was an explosion in the cockpit area which enveloped the pilot with fire. The pilot was unable to escape the flames. The investigation found that particular aircraft had a history of petrol fumes pervading the cockpit before start-up. On this occasion an electrical spark must have ignited the fumes.
The Wing Commander said the sight of the unfortunate pilot was forever in his mind even in peacetime and that unless one had seen what he had seen, petrol fumes didn't particularly concern some pilots.
After that episode our ground staff airmen checked the cross-feed pipes in all the squadron Lincolns and found evidence of fuel stains. The Wing Commander was right and after that maintenance was tightened up.