Is Fire Alive?

This is an inside joke for biologists because fire meets most, but not all requirements of standard Earth life as we know it.

• Responsiveness to the environment? (if you poke it, it will spark.)
• Growth and change? (If you feed it, it will grow.)
• Ability to reproduce? (If you light a torch, it will burn separately even after the main source has burnt out, so technically that counts.)
• Have a metabolism and breathe? (It does utilize oxygen and burn fuel.)
• Maintain homeostasis? (This is the kicker, since it’s technically defined as “the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.” And here’s where it gets tricky. “physiological” is defined as “relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts,” which is funny because we’re debating whether this is a living organism here. So this one’s moot until we prove life. )
• Being made of cells? (OK, fire is not made of cell bubbles of water. That would be counter-intuitive for fire. But wait, there’s more! A cell is defined as “the smallest structural and functional unit of an organism,” so a plasma organism made of an oxidation reaction would be composed of fundamental units just like anything else in the universe. It’s a very general definition. So this actually could qualify, surprising as it seems.)
• Passing traits onto offspring? (This one seems…