JW411... very good post. Balanced, and gave something we can all learn from.
As mentioned before... time is critical. Smell smoke? Start the clock and find somewhere to go. Fast! 10-12 minutes...max.
flaphandlemover (post #318) - great pictures. Looks like the folks in Cedre and Semmer have some SERIOUS thanking to do... that was just too close. Either some very skilful flying, or an indisputable miracle.
My heart is heavy thinking of what those two poor souls were faced with, that particular evening, with that situation...
Let's hope we can all learn from this - whatever the cause of the fire, as the more sensible posts have suggested here, suppression or egress is not really the factor here. More stringent controls on what is carried, and how it is packaged is the issue.
If nasty things weren't unknowingly carried, or were contained better, then suppression or egress is barred... Apart from the 1-out-of-thousands-of-flights where a/c systems are at fault, the checklist will protect you, but the time-rule still applies. Don't try to reason... Land. ASAP.
My heart goes out to those poor guys that night.... they flew my biggest fear.
Fire in flight. Nothing scares me more.