 Welcome to English in a minute. From home. If you fan a fire, the flames get bigger. But what does this mean as an idiom? Anna, what are you looking at? A car stopped on the road. The men are fighting. Oh no, now the women are fighting. Wow, that is definitely going to fan the flames. It has fan the flames. Now everyone is fighting. Fanning a fire makes it stronger. The same can be said about a situation. To fan the flames makes something a bigger deal. We often say this when talking about problems, but you can also say it about positive things, like a new romance. And that's English in a minute.