The reason the flamethrowers aren't firing is due to an optimization issue.
Meaning they aren't active if they aren't on screen unless you're further in the room.
The reason for their placement is for the cells in there, that holds some of the d-class(reasoning why the one guy runs out burning).
It's not relevant to the story as it is mainly a hint to the player to not go in there(yet).
Reason for the lack of sound effects for various things are due to time constraints.
We had a deadline finish things up before Halloween :p
You'll notice a lot of things, mainly in the inventory system that has some options that may seem useless(and they are in the demo), but has a bigger role in the main game, some which will change drastically.
They simply where left in, as we didn't want to keep taking things in and out, especially as we where getting short on time.
Same with some of the areas.
Hope that cleared some of the bigger questions.
Thanks for playing our demo!