If you are on one side of a ditch full of burning debris and a zombie is on the other, will it attempt to cross the ditch to get at you?
Permalink Reply by the death of saint.357 on July 2, 2012 at 7:40am well a lot of people would say no zombies don't fear fire even though Romero's original zombies did. most people seam to believe because a zombie only has the most primitive of cognitive function and no sense of pain or self preservation that to get to you it would walk right into the fire. perhaps even because zombies are drawn to any noise and light they may just walk into the fire hopping to find food. you know kinda like moths who are drawn to flames.
i guess it all comes down to how much of the brain is reanimated. all animals in nature fear fire which is why if your ever lost in predator country you keep a fire going no mater how hot it is. to keep large predators away. so if they are operating on instinct like animals fire might scare them. of course its also going to draw in others from the surrounding area as far as the light from it will travel. so its kinda a double edge sword.
my thoughts on what would happen if a zombie was confronted with fire, especially a large fire like what your talking about, a zombie might become mesmerized by the flame. since its natural urge is to seek out light it probably won't be able to keep its eyes off of it. (unless of course it spots nearby food) since zombies have little to no reservation mechanism it will keep staring at the light regardless of damage to its eyes and if gets close enough the fire may overwhelm its ocular proses (most of the human brain is used for processioning sight) disorienting a zombie which if you were to say wave a flaming torch in its face like Ben did in night of the living dead, that might explain their fear of fire despite the fact that they lack cognitive function to scared of something.
bottom line no one knows until the dead start to rise and we can actually study one. but using a wall of fire to stop a zombie is generally not a good idea despite what some people may say. worst case scenario you have flaming zombies coming after you for how ever long their body's can survive being burned,(a discussion for another time) and best case you keep them at bay for how ever long the fire holds out while the light attracts every neighboring zombie for miles. it requires large amounts of fuel you can use for something else, fire is notoriously hard to start and keep feed. and it could easily get out of control and do more harm then good destroying whole areas.
so using fire as a barrier against zombies, not a good idea unless you have no other option and an easy means of creating one, or if one is already available. hope this helped and if you would like more discussions on zombie topics check out my you tube channel REDEADTHEUNDEAD© for videos on zombie survival tactics, gear review and weapons testing against human skull analogs.
and as always;
"stay alive, because the dead won't stay dead on their own"©
yes, why wouldent they
Permalink Reply by Twitches on July 25, 2012 at 6:36pm i think it all depends on the type of zombies you are dealing with.
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