When you start a fire, the maximum surface area of the combustible material is exposed to the oxygen. After a time the burned material acts as a insulator between the oxygen in the air and the fuel. That is why a log fire needs to be stirred and prodded - to knock off the ash and carbon on the outside to expose the unburned wood.
Surface area. Hmm. That seems plausible....I think...but if so, then in the instant afterwards, the surface area burning is diminished, whereas you’d expect it to grow. I mean, if the flare diminishes, then the surface area burning also did.
Eh?
Many thanks to everyone, you are ALL Feynmans to me. :)
Oh wait. I think I'm getting it now. Virtually immediate cooldown?