that human beings seem to be bad at remembering at what point in the sequence fire was involved
Absolutely. This was very well explained during a presentation I followed some years back by a Psychogogist ( I have to see if I can find back the references ) who explained that when your brain register a shock ( like witnessing an accident) the chain /sequence of events to that shock very often is deregulated. Only a camera show this. Having said that , what is a bit disturbing in the "witness" reports is the fire brigade testimony(ies)who said the aircfat was already on fire when it passed abeam them, and that was before the metal strip . This was the main part of the Continental defence during the trial.
One of the controllers on duty that day said to me that from the start and during accelleration the noise was not the normal noise a Concorde makes during take off.
But again perhaps that was due to the above post accident phenomenae.