What? That makes no sense. Being able to kick fires out of your village is one thing, but removing an essential game-play element from the world at will is the worst concept I've ever heard of. I can't imagine how this could have been intentionally added.
I like it this way. It prevents pricks from coming and building a hearth outside my village to nonstop hearth in, steal my stuff, hearth to their village idol and dump it in their cabin.
Especially when you consider the fact that in future worlds, the map will be effectively infinite, and it's possible that your hearthfire could be days away.