Two years ago I had a hornet's nest for one season under the roof, entrances directly at my balcony. It was interesting and entertaining. Why should I have wished to burn them (forbidden in nGermany anyway)? The kids of the family living in the flat below me repeatedly rang at my door and asked if they could go to my balcony and watch them. I then slowly lifted one roofing tile. After I taught them to move slowly and not using soap with smells before, they lost their fear completely and even accepted if sometimes hornets were landing on their arms and hands.
None of us was ever stung (stinged? stanged? staccatopunctured?
) Maybe I read too much into it, but I got the impression that hornets are not agressive, but can be very
curious.
Observing insect states (ants, bees, wasps, hornets) I find to be fascinating. The honret nest still is up there. Only bad thing was that they produce quite some ammount of - well, what you usually produce after a while when you eat meat (the larvas only) ...