An Observation

Fire. Small, it heats homes, lights tobacco, cooks. People use it to their own ends, and use it to constructive tasks. Large, it becomes an all-consuming firestorm, eating everything in its path, until it runs out of fuel or is extinguished.
Air. Small, it is what we breathe, the breeze that cools us on hot summer days or makes us shiver in the winter. Large, it is a tornado, or it carries water to make a hurricane, or earth to create a sandstorm. Either way, it scours everything in its path, breaking off the weak parts of structures, or uprooting weak structures themselves.
Water. Small, it is what we drink, what nourishes the plants we feed off of, what we use to cleanse ourselves. Large, it becomes a flood, a hurricane (when carried by air), a tsunami (when moved by earth), washing and carrying away everything in its path.
Fire, Air, and Water are all inherently mutable, and when they become destructive they take everything in their path for themselves.