An electrically operated aerosol-generating system is provided, including an aerosol-generating device including an electrically powered heating element; and a heated aerosol-generating article including an aerosol-forming substrate radially encircled by a sheet of thermally-conductive material, which is a thermally conducting flame barrier configured to spread heat and to mitigate against a risk of igniting the substrate by application of a flame to the article, and a plurality of elements, assembled together with the substrate within a wrapper to form a rod having a mouth end and a distal end upstream from the mouth end, the substrate being disposed at the distal end of the rod, the elements including a spacer element disposed within the rod downstream of the substrate and a mouthpiece element extending upstream from the mouth end of the rod, the device being configured to receive the article and the heating element is configured to heat the substrate of the article.