@aussiepax: read...think...write... in that order
@Ian W: A severe fire needs two things - an ignition source, but more importantly a volatile fuel that is able to propagate the fire in a rapid way. There is no good flammable material in the galley, especially in the food cart. The various plastics burn slowly, especially in the thin cabin athmosphere at FL370. In another life I conduct expeditions to remote areas where standard practice is to burn any combustible trash, remove all other. I know how difficult and time consuming it is to burn plastic garbage. It requires a liberal dousing of diesel for it to properly catch fire, and without wind the flames die repeatedly. As all catering and cabin materials are made of certified (relatively) fire retardant materials, I find it a bit hard to envision an accessible fire on board strong enough that it cannot be put out with the extinguishers. With SR111 the problem was that the fire was inaccessible, and the severity was not recognized until too late. Similarly with the two 74F accidents, the crew had no access to the fire location.