What is "putting out a fire"

Usage examples of "putting out a fire".

I quickly called my mother, who seemed more preoccupied with putting out a fire on the kitchen stove than talking to me.

Against the Germans in the last war and this one, the Russian way of putting out a fire was to throw bodies on it till it smothered.

It was the shortest travel distance for my right hand, and as I pulled it free, I could pivot into a full-faced squat, weapon held in two hands, aiming it for full instinctive spray, like a man putting out a fire at gut height.

Any help was better than none, but somehow this seemed like putting out a fire without knowing if there was water or whiskey in the bucket.