system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why do firefighters "make it rain" on a fire instead of pointing the hose at the ground or directly into the fire?
gpt
What they are trying to do is prevent the area immediately next to where the fire is from catching fire. By doing this (in theory) the fire will have nowhere to go and eventually use up the fuel that is currently on fire and extinguish itself.

The "make it rain" approach is common because it starves the fire of both heat and oxygen (the water vapour displaces the oxygen in the air)