system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
The hazard symbols for highly flammable and oxydizing are very similar. Why is the oxydizing symbol so similar and what does it visually represent?

I am very sorry for such a boring question, but I'm struggling to find why the Oxydizing symbol is the way it is. I need to explain what is happening in the image so I can seperate it from the Highly Flammable symbol.
gpt
HAZMAT tech here.

The Flaming O oxidizing agent symbol is there because the substance is not a fuel, but an Oxidizer. The presence of Oxidizing agents can greatly accelerate the combustion of other materials, or even cause things that are not normally flammable to burn. It also broadens the flammability limits of most substances by lowering the LFL and raising the UFL. In other words, it becomes much easier for materials to burn at lower temperatures and at a wider range of air/fuel mixtures. A small oxygen leak, for example, can turn what would otherwise be a simple structure fire into a very intense, and possibly explosive inferno. Even a slight increase in the oxygen content of air above its usual 21 vol % will greatly increase the rate of oxidation or combustion of many substances. 

And oxygen isn't the only oxidizing agent that can do this.

For example. Nitrous oxide is an oxidizing agent. By itself, it will not burn. But it will gladly support combustion in the place of atmospheric oxygen.

Firefighting techniques for Oxidizing agents are different from flammable agents, since if you extinguish the fire, the oxidizing agent is still there, ready to restart the fire at a moments notice to possibly explosive effect. Certian oxidizing agents can even catch water and concrete on fire.