Why point them away?

Question

Sometimes when extinguishing a fire on a burning ship, a fireboat will have some of its nozzles pointing away from the fire. Why?

Answer 1

To balance the lateral thrust generated by the water jets pointed AT the fire, so the boat doesn't drift away from it.

Answer 2

maybe if the fire is too out of control they do it to create a barrier between ships so there is less of a risk that both ships can be damaged or maybe they're simply not trying to sink the ship on fire