Of course it burned when the ship went, but so does Jet A. It didn't cause the fire. And their fire precautions were incredible. Passengers were searched for matches, there was one passenger and one crew smoking area to which access was controlled and the staff on duty lit the smoked object for the passenger or crewman.
As you have pointed out, the German zeppelins were fantastically successful for the time. I can't get over the payload and speed. 20 to 25 ton payload at 80 knots.
And the Hindenburg was designed to operate on either hydrogen or helium. The US had contracted with the Germans to build zeppelins for the US, and there was hope that helium would be available. Helium provided only 90% of the lift of hydrogen, however.
And helium was enormously expensive even for the US dirigible, the "Los Angeles". The government subsidized the cost down.
Arf
Space/Science » in reply to Number one, new airships would use helium.
They had a lot of success with hydrogen. Didn't cause problems.