put out fires
Douse burning things
To put out fires is to extinguish flames, but the phrase appears far more often figuratively—dealing with urgent problems or crises as they arise: I spent all morning putting out fires instead of working on the project.
The image suggests reactive, often exhausting work that addresses immediate emergencies rather than underlying causes.
- extinguishEnd combustion forcibly
- put outExtinguish or annoy
- hoseFlexible fluid conduit
- smokeAirborne combustion byproduct
- flamesVisible burning combustion
burning building · emergency · smoke detector · rescue · hydrant · ladder · siren · blaze · quench · stop drop roll · douse · crisis · damage control · damage limitation · trouble · problems · chaos · overwhelmed
- fire idiomsfan the flames, spread like wildfire, go up in flames, go up in smoke, up in smoke
- work idiomsburning out, rat race, climb the ladder, glass ceiling, golden handshake
- Work JargonASAP, FYI, EOD, synergy, deliverable
put out firesarson
Criminal deliberate burning
ignite · fan the flames · stoke the fire · torch · kindle
put out firespour gasoline on the fire
Intensify an already volatile situation
fan the flames · stir up trouble · add fuel to the fire · destabilize · sabotage
puts, putting, putter, output, outer, outing, outward, outermost, fire