This is all pretty subjective because one person may have one type of a feeling about this extract, and the other person may have completely different feelings.
For me personally, this simile creates a gloomy mood. The simile 'the hollow halo it was in was like an icy crystal cup' creates a gloomy and cold atmosphere in my opinion.
I would say no because a simile is having something referred to something else for example as brace as a lion or crazy like a fox.
Because it doesn’t make a story it is a statement
It sounds like a "run on" it seems to excisive and stretched out.
the answer is: Jerome chooses without prompting to help with the fire cleanup
