It is here—in the invisible gaseous interface between the thing and its ignition—that fire becomes mobile. This molecule-thin frontier, known as the “reaction zone,” enables or denies, from moment to ignescent moment, the promise of fire’s limitless, unimpeded growth. This phenomenon—pyrolysis—is the key to understanding the motives and behavior of fire. Simply put, the goal of fire—its threefold objective—is to string these pyrolytic moments together for as long as possible, as broadly as possible, as intensely as possible.
