Could fire exist without life? - follow up by Emily Lauterpacht

A few weeks ago I wrote about whether fire could exist without life. In the article (read it here), I concluded that fire would not exist if life didn't, but some recent reading has led me to realise that I was wrong in saying that "fire ... would not be possible, as ... any form of fuel on earth is either alive, has once been alive, or has been modified by humans from something that once was alive". 
Comet Lovejoy has been discovered to be being emitted ethyl alcohol, amongst other organic molecules. In fact, at its peak activity, Comet Lovejoy has been releasing as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine per second! Some of these organic molecules are flammable, and so, in theory, we have a fuel for fire that exists without life. However, I still stand by my statement that fire couldn't exist without life, as without life, there is still not a sufficient source of oxygen to allow a fire to start.

Comet Lovejoy

Emily Lauterpacht