I have applied this procedure in real life. (War story follows:)
In the barracks, one of my buddies was terrorizing people by using a spray can of deodorant and a lighter. By igniting the product as it came out of the can, he had an improvised flame-thrower.
Sensible people were evacuating the area around him, and then he turned toward me.
As he approached, flaming light-saber in hand, I analyzed the situation. The problem presented was not the contents of the spray can; it wasn’t Raid and I wasn’t a cockroach. No, the problem to be dealt with was the tiny flame at the top of his lighter.
I reached around the flame and waved my hand to extinguish his candle. It worked.
He stood there aghast and amazed that his flame had gone out. “How’d you do that?” he asked.
We wizards have our secrets. In this case, I was using sound logic, having sent in a wave-front to put out the flame.
Absolutely brilliant!
I must say, this has been a fine evening....
Waiter, my check please ?