I have been working on another (feeble) attempt at interpreting this image. As much as I would like to hold my cards close to my chest and come out as the one who solved it, I hate unknowingly retracing steps even more.

I have been looking at applying a code 128 barcode to the flames in case a mini-key is what we are looking for. I have been looking at the thickness and re-arranging the top/bottom/left/right segments in an order that might create a barcode that might actually be readable.

I have also considered incorporating the color combinations to determine which flames should/shouldn't be included. Or, perhaps the short flames are one barcode (or section) and the tall flames are another. I am doing my barcode creation manually via image editors, but I am wondering if there is a programmatic way to do this.