OK, before I get burned at the stake (on a fire started with a firesteel ), I do carry firestarting kit and understand what a fire can do to help my situation in a crisis.

BUT - thinking about my most likely survival situations, the likelihood is that I will be injured, or night is falling or similar. At which point instant shelter is more useful and acheivable than a fire. Crawling into a survival bag in a shelter spot is more doable than trying to find enough firewood to get a decent fire fed. And in some regions (grassland, mountains etc) trees are not abundant so I just wont have that option - sit on a mountainside in Wales with a twisted ankle and show me how you would build a worthwhile fire.

I'm not saying don't carry firestarting kit, but I would issue a challenge to those who don't carry shelter (garbage bag, poncho, space blanket etc) as to whether they think in a real crisis they could get a fire and a debris shelter together readily?