To start with their hell is not like that of Judaism or Christianity. In this you can work your way up to heaven.
The "Burning House" parable is a story related to the level of enlightenment offered by both Hiniyana (lesser vehicle) to Mahayana (greater vehicle). As you know, the father offers his kids carts of different value to get them out of the burning house without harm. Goat and dear carts represent Theravada (Hiniyana) Buddhism. The more valuable ox and bullock carts represent Mahayana Buddhism. When the kids take dad up on the offer and leave the burning house for the various jewel encrusted carts they find that dad is not going to give them all of the carts but instead only the more valuable ones. the question is; Was dad lying, or was the true value of his overall intentions to great for the former to even be considered? His intentions were of greater depth and spiritual magnitude than the whiny ass "We didn't get our goat and deer carts". That,in a nutshell, is the Mahayana vs. Hiniyana rivalry according to Mahyana.