My understanding, limited as it is, the blowout was the result of the fire. I had not heard the interview. Thanks!
The blowout released a copious amount of gass which being heavier than air settled over the deck of the rig and nearly anything could have ignited the gass which caused the fire and likely caused the death of the eleven men working the deck area around the rig. The blowout is a sudden catastrophic release of gass under enormous pressure. The ‘plug’ holding down the contents of the tubing was blown out the top of a 200 foot derrick structure because of the sudden pressure surge.