Why is my code deleting my particle emitter?

I wrote a simple code to check the distance of an object and the camera and then change the emission level of a flame emitter, but after I get a certain distance from it, it automatically deletes the game object that has the emitter and code in it. Attached is the editor area of unity and the code I am using.

 var target: Transform;
 function Update () {
 var dist : float = Vector3.Distance(target.position, transform.position);
     if(dist <= 13){
     particleEmitter.maxEmission = 100;
 }else{
     particleEmitter.maxEmission = 0;
 }
 }
 

edit: think I found a fix. It does not like me to use the number 0, it thinks I just want it deleted, now I need to find a number small enough for it to no longer shoot puffs of flames.

edit: only works temporaly, i changed the code and it still seems to want to happen, if I remove the code it stops having the problem. new code:

 var target: Transform;
 function Update () {
 var fwd = transform.TransformDirection (Vector3.forward);
 var dist : float = Vector3.Distance(target.position, transform.position);
     if(dist <= 13 /*&& !Physics.Raycast (transform.position, fwd*/){
     /*particleEmitter.maxEmission = 100;*/
 }else{
     /*particleEmitter.maxEmission = .0001;*/ 
 }
 }

edit: should be the final one, code is now: var target: Transform; function Update () { //var fwd = transform.TransformDirection (Vector3.forward); var dist = Vector3.Distance(target.position, transform.position);

         if(dist <= 13){
     particleEmitter.emit = true;
 }else{
     particleEmitter.emit = false; 
 }
 }

bug still happens, but if code is changed to:

 var target: Transform;
 function Update () {
 //var fwd = transform.TransformDirection (Vector3.forward);
 var dist = Vector3.Distance(target.position, transform.position);
 
         if(dist <= 13){
     particleEmitter.emit = true;
 }else{
     particleEmitter.emit = ***true***; 
 }
 }

the problem stops