** smacks head on desk **
That's genius. I changed the particles to a list, and can't believe the speed increase I got for it. I left the emitters as a vector, since there are far fewer of them (probably less than 50), and I might want some random access later (also, it meant changing less code).
Thanks a lot all. This project is done, and I got a fancy looking flame along with heaps of experience in vectors and lists.
