Why does Ralph think the fire is no good?

Ralph sees that the boys are missing the point about the
fire. They are only young, some of them quite small, and the younger ones especially do
not have the maturity of thinking to predict and to plan in abstract way for the future.
All they know is 'now' - like in 'fun, now.' Children are excited by fire, but it is the
flames that are dramatic, not the smoke. Immature minds also tend to think that with
most things, the bigger the better. Not so for Ralph - he is thinking more like cowboys
and indians where the braves 'make talk' by wafting the smoke with mats or branches as
signals. he is right to think that putting something more cool and damp will subdue the
fire and produce more smoke to get them seen from a distance.