Det här beskrivs bättre och mer i detalj av böckerna. Tormund förklarar problemet i Kapitel 58 i ADWD :
Every nightfall we'd ring our camps with fire. The don't like fire much, and no mistake. When the snows came though... snow and sleet and freezing rain, it's bloody hard to find dry wood to get your kindling lit, and the cold... some nights our fires just seemed to shrivel up and die. Nights like that you always find some dead come the morning. 'Less they find you first.
Så ja, eld kommer att döda vägar och hålla de andra borta. Om du kan tända en eld och lyckas fortsätta.
Tänk också på att
In the book the Night's Watch used flaming arrows against the wights at the Fist of the First Men, and it was not enough. They still needed to make a desperate retreat from the wights.