I don’t think anyone doubts that. Obviously this is meant to be taken as a symbol… but a symbol still needs to have some meaning. To use the book as an example, the protagonist’s job is to burn books. Okay, fair. This is all dressed up in a mockery of a fire department though, complete with firehoses that spew actual fire. On a literal level, this is all very silly. There’s no good, logical reason why bookburners should behave like firefighters. But it works on a symbolic level because there’s a certain amount of twisted irony to the concept of firefighters burning down houses that helps immediately set this up as a world that’s a bit missed up, one where the priorities are backwards. It also works because they are trying to fight a fire, it’s just not a literal one, but rather the spread of controversial ideas. Etc, etc, many other different interpretations I’m sure.
Running a lighter over the pages to make them readable… well there’s a irony there, but I don’t see what purpose it serves. Or… any other way this helps reinforce the ideas, themes, settings, or characters of the work. So far as I can tell they’re doing it because it’s a neat trick they can do. So… it’s a gimmick.
