Most definitely I'm interested in getting off alive. And if the evacuation starts 30 seconds earlier, that can save a whole bunch of lives.
So who should be responsible for initiating the evacuation?
The pilots can see next to nothing. It can take a few minutes for the fire fighters to show up. The tower can be over a mile away.
The people best situated are the cabin crew by the rear doors.
If I see the cabin crew people on the job and taking initiative, that's one thing. They don't necessarily have to open the doors if they're looking out the cabin windows and keeping the SLF in the loop.
If they're standing around dazed and waiting for orders, time and perhaps lives are trickling away.
The pax who intiated the evacuation at YYC were definitely interested in preserving their own skin -- and saved a lot of lives.