CookieLoop said: Sure... Use a flamethrower to put out a fire...
It's actually an oft used method for controlling wildfires. They burn a strip of land clear so that when the wildfire reaches that strip it have nowhere to go and burns out eventually.
Zweibach said: It's actually an oft used method for controlling wildfires. They burn a strip of land clear so that when the wildfire reaches that strip it have nowhere to go and burns out eventually.
The phrase also comes from the use of explosives to put out burning oil wells; the flame won't stop due to the fuel rushing from the pipe, so a sparkless explosion is set off beside it to blast the air away and snuff the flame.