Flamethrowers?

Clear the runway for landing aircraft maybe, or ice from planes wings.

In real life they wouldn’t have flamethrowers, it’s just another dumb Hollywood invention by writers.

I sorta wonder if this came from Alien? In that movie, there's this stealth demon that ends you if you meet it in a dark alley and it's only vulnerability is fire/heat. They Jerry-rig some flamethrowers as the only weapons they have. In The Thing, I wonder if (even subconsciously) they were going to that place. Classically, "Kill it with fire" is something that a lot of stories go to, possibly because it's perceived as being purifying, light-giving, or even just something that we as a species use to fend off the literal darkness (and, therefore, the figurative darkness of monsters, or symbolically the monsters that inhabit the darkness). So, flame makes sense story-wise, theme-wise, and possibly was also in their brains from Alien.

From the book:

“McReady wedged men out of his way and drove down the narrow corridor packed with men unable to reach the scene. There was a sure fore­planned drive to McReady's attack. One of the giant blowtorches used in warming the plane's engines was in his bronzed hands. It roared gustily as he turned the corner and opened the valve. The mad mewing hissed louder. The dogs scrambled back from the three­ foot lance of blue­hot flame.”

That still does not explain why the flame throwers used in the film look like WWII M2,s.

I think it’s perfectly plausible that an Arctic base would have flame throwers for melting ice and snow 🤷🏻‍♂️

Don't forget this was during the cold war. Weapons that had multiple uses were in high demand. They can quickly start huge fires which could be life saving if you're trying to warm up in what -100 degrees?

Sure beats shoveling.

I always wonder, what if they hadn’t had flamethrowers? I guess they would have been completely screwed.