^ lol oh the huge manatee
Sure, let's not underestimate the dangers of hydrogen, but fuel and its vapours are not exactly harmless either.
OT: during WW1 Germany built almost a hundred Zeppelins +Schuette-Lanz +other airships for the war effort, mostly for naval surveillance, but also as bombers.
Some were indeed shot down, but only very few exploded, due to pure hydrogen is not inflammable. Lots of grenades and ammo hardware went right through the hydrogen-filled inner gas bags without igniting them. The cells certainly began to leak, but were quickly sealed by the airship's sail maker teams. Drop a bit of ballast and they were good to go on in minutes.
It was only after some special incendiary ammunition like the Pomeroy & Brock type was invented, that the first airship was shot down in flames.
Even then they had to attack several times, first for penetrating the gas bags, then wait for the air mixing and becoming flammable, then a second attack which ignited the oxygen-hydrogen mixture. Same for the observation balloons of the time.
They could have used helium, but this is rare on earth (if abundant in the universe), and hydrogen was much cheaper and available, and you needed less since it is much lighter than helium.