From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadd fuel to the fire/flamesadd fuel to the fire/flamesto make an argument or disagreement worse Rather than providing a solution, their statements merely added fuel to the fire. → add
Examples from the Corpus
add fuel to the fire/flames• It only added fuel to the fire.• Once the process is under way, empire-building adds fuel to the fire, and more fat to the bureaucracy. 