Given the caveats that we do not know what messages were recieved by the crew from amongst others, cockpit indications , cctv, cabin crew, fire chief, atc or company, certain things stand out.
The fire crews started extinguishing around about 1min 7 sec after the aircraft came to a stop.
At Manchester the pooled fuel which was on fire on the left hand side burnt through the hull beneath the cabin compartment betwean 5 sec and 20 sec after the aircraft stopped. The fire burnt through the hull directly into the passenger compartment no later than 1min after the aircraft stopped. The windows burnt through arround 50 sec after the aircraft stopped.
About 5 Pax died directly as a result of fire the rest from inhaling the toxic fumes.
The main cause of entry into the cabin of fire and fumes was the hull breach on the left. The wall of thick smoke induced a sense of panic and fear in the passangers. ( this fear acording to the report was replicated in other aviation fire scenarios).
Once the hull was breached by the fire there was only a very limited time frame in which to evacuate all the passangers.
Therefore in this case:
If there had been fire directed at the hull either from the source or from pooled fuel then it is highly likely that the hull would have been breached by the time the fire crews started to fight the fire. By that time there would also have been mass panic amongst the pax as they struggled to escape. ( but acording to some that would obviously be better than evacuating)
Cabin crew are trained to look for hazards before opening the doors and are thus unlikely to have opened directly onto burning pooled fuel.
The argument against evacuation in case of pooled fuel does not add up when faced with the above aspects.
The immediate hazard to pax remaining in the cabin was very high and far greater then the hazards associated with evacuation.
We wait to see what information was recieved by the crew that made them follow the course they did. I am sure that whatever the reasons they did not intend to endanger lives.