system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:How does water put out fire?

I get that smothering fire cuts off the oxygen, does water work the same way, or is it something different?
gpt
Water has an extremely high heat capacity. This means that water can cool the fire until it is no longer possible for the area on fire to maintain the on fire state. There are videos of things like red hot lead balls being dropped in ice and they are rather quickly cooled as they sink into the ice demonstrating the massive thermal capacity of water.