Having read through the AOPA electrical fire safety briefing I came to realize one main point that they really seemed to be trying to get across; STAY CALM! Although this seems like something simple, I believe that it would be much harder to do in the event of an actual in flight fire. In order to actually be calm in a situation like this (or at least calm enough to make the right decisions), I think that you have to be prepared for the emergency and have previously trained for it in the past.
When you compare the articles electrical fire emergency procedure to the Seminole's I noticed one main difference and that is the Seminole's checklist goes straight to the source of the problem by turning off electrical components that may have caused the problem, while the article's checklist says to first declare an emergency and then if you think you can identify the component that is causing the problem pull the circuit breaker as long as the breaker is not to an essential component. Overall obviously the Seminole's checklist is the best checklist for our situation because it was tailored to our specific aircraft. However, I also like the Seminole's checklist better because it first has you go straight to the problem to take care of it before it gets worse and then has you land as soon as practical instead of possibly making the situation worse by making radio calls first.
One possible way that some of these electrical fires can be started according to the article is a short circuit (or short) in the electrical system. This is essentially when a current travels along an unintended path of very low or no resistance.
In the future, I hope to never have a situation in which I have to deal with an in flight electrical fire, however if I do have to, I now know what I am going to do. Firstly I will fly the airplane and stay calm, then I will follow the aircraft's individual checklist and land as soon as practical.
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