Originally Posted by
blimey
xyze
The point is how quickly a fuselage made of aluminium and surrounded by flammable liquid and an uncontained fire can be reduced to a charred shell, even with Dubai RFF going above and beyond the call of duty. Any doubt, get out.
I don't think anyone at present knows exactly how long it took for the fire in this incident to be extinguished. Clearly not in time to save the cabin, which judging from the haze/smoke visible in the videos available of the interior immediately after the accident may have been breached during the crash landing itself. Contrast this with the SQ event in which the cabin had not been compromised and fire crews were dousing flames within a minute from the time the aircraft stopped, based on video of the event. That same video shows that the starboard wing fire appeared to be being effectively suppressed by the fire services within 90 seconds of 'first foam'.
Might it have gone otherwise, and the fire been less easily contained? Yes, in which case presumably the AFS would have communicated this fact to the commander - no doubt continuously re-evaluating his decision not to evacuate - who could've acted accordingly.