What does that mean "pull your fat out of the fire"

Question

I was looking at a dictionary
and it is written that THE FAT IS IN THE FIRE USED TO SAY THAT THERE WILL BE TROUBLE BECAUSE OF SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED.
I understand what it means
but I can not applied it because I might use in wrong context.
could you explain it and show me some examples?
and what does that mean "PULL YOUR FAT OUT OF THE FIRE?"

Cbsteh · Accepted Answer

Try:

"I am in deep trouble. The fat is in the fire. I am supposed to submit this report today, but my hard disk crashed yesterday night, and I didn't make any backups!"

I haven't heard of the "pull your fat out of the fire", though it probably means do something to avoid further trouble.

Chris

Goodman · Answer

www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/59/messages
In Reply to: Pull the fat out of the fire posted by Shippy on November 24, 2008 at 16:13

The meaning of "pulling your fat out of the fire"?
If you have ever thrown used cooking fat away into a campfire, you'll know what happens - the fire spits, crackles and flares up, So "now the fat's really in the fire!" means "trouble has really started!" Quite recently, someone - possibly influenced by another genuine old phrase, "pulling your chestnuts out of the fire" - took it into their head to say "pull the fat out of the fire" to mean "save the situation". It's senseless, though, because one thing you absolutely cannot do is pull hot fat out of the fire once it is well melted and alight! (VSD)
In a nutshell, it's a reference to a situation in which one may have done some irreversible damage but it's deemed too late to fix.

What does that mean "pull your fat out of the fire"

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