I have a feeling I will end up embarrassed by not knowing this, but was the fire burning perpetually on the altar given by God? Where does it say so?

Geneva notes on Lev 10:1:
(a) Not taken from the altar, which was sent from heaven, and endured till the captivity of Babylon.

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Leviticus 9:24 And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
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That it was to be kept burning seems to be implied by the incident of Nadab and Abihu. They brought "strange" fire into the tabernacle, rather than either inquiring or the Lord what fire to use, or correctly discerning with good reason that only the fire which God himself sent could be acceptable anywhere in the precincts.

This fire, continuously fed, would thus be "perpetual", that is to say connected with the fire God sent. There is no comparable incident recorded (of fire from heaven) when the Temple was resurrected. So, was there supernatural combustion after the Exile? That is too hard to guess. I think it is fair to say (based on the RPW) that God gave whatever instructions were necessary for reignition.

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Thanks Josh and Bruce. I suppose I was inferring from the Geneva notes that there was reference to the people actually taking fire from that incident in Lev 9:24 for the perpetual fire. Is this correct?

I think so. The ch. divisions are an invention. That verse is immediately prior to the incident.