fan the flames, to

To exacerbate an already inflammable situation, or to revive a flagging situation. The fact that wind stirs up a fire has, of course, been  known  since  ancient  times,  but  the  precise  metaphor  here,  with  its alliterative  lilt, is  considerably  newer. Dickens  used  it  in  The  Old  Curiosity Shop (1840): “Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship.”