[Senmut]

In one of the novelizations, TLL if I recall, it was stated that in the event of landing bay damage or fire, the atmospheric force field could be shut off, and the bay depressurized, snuffing any fire. Obviously, this wasn't done it FIS, and we must assume the reason was that the machinery was damaged to the point where the field could not be shut down the usual way. Tigh said that all communications were out on that side of the ship. We can assume that the blast cut alot of cable trunks, and damaged other mechanisms. I think most fans were smart enough to grasp this, though the critics obviously weren't.