I hate to have to bring this up again, but i think fire elementals are still too unbalanced, they have low AC, HP, and AB, they may have higher dmg but they can barely hit, or live long enough to hit.
Give them a magical shield that harms enemies when they hit them.
my point is at the very least they ought to get a small AB boost, but the shield is a good idea.
It would make it a stylish theme i think. But would get owned by ranged attacks.