I wrote the answer in swift before i saw the objective-c tag.. hope thats okay.
heres my particle file so you can try it yourself:
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let emitter = SKEmitterNode(fileNamed: "fire")
emitter.position = CGPoint(x: self.size.width/2, y: self.size.height/2)
let time = CGFloat(2)
emitter.runAction(SKAction.sequence([
SKAction.waitForDuration(3),
SKAction.customActionWithDuration(NSTimeInterval(time), actionBlock: {
_, t in
let timePercentage = t / time // percentage of elapsed time
let maxSpeed = CGFloat(200)
emitter.particleSpeed = timePercentage * maxSpeed
})
]))
self.addChild(emitter)
this code will allow you to animate your emitter's properties over time.