That's mainly to stave off heat problems associated w/ using an electric winch under load, for long periods of time (like if you're using it to power-out down a hill). For most any useage, the winch is NOT going to heat up enough to melt the rope. Just have to use common sense. If you're winching for 30 minutes straight, then yeah, you're gonna' burn the rope on an electric winch. But the good news is, you're probably going to burn up the winch, too...

If you have a hydraulic winch, you don't need any of the fansy-schmancy heat resistant wrappings at the drums, 'cause hydro's don't have the drum brake that electrics do; aka, they run cooler, for as long as you want them to.