BTB - I find absolutely no fault with your report of events. very hard to given you appear to have been there, perhaps even involved. What you cannot assert however is that the crew would ask you if you considered an evacuation necessary. That HAS to be the commander's call after quickly digesting the information he has available. What I don't understand is why the off wing slides were deployed ( the one that did in any case ) if a brake fire, obviously thought to have been serious enough to prompt an evac, had been confirmed ?
I've seen one brake fire, and it was a storm in a teacup, so to speak. A small amount of grease on fire can "look" far worse than it is and is easily contained if approached in accordance with accepeted fire fighting norms and a healthy respect for very hot wheels. I'm sure statistics would support this too.
Slim is a little harsh I feel, perhaps it's the brother mason in him, who knows.
The CEO of the airport corporation had his foot out of his mouth just long enough to be quoted as saying that the fire was associated with the nose gear, during a radio interview early after the event.
In any case, the usual suspects are all here. World class mediocrity in how events are reported coupled with a dash of " ****** " by those having to explain the way it went down. Another day at jet city.