Proverbs 26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Theses two verses tell us a how to keep trouble from starting and spreading. It is simple in fact just like you cannot keep a fire going without fuel to feed it, then rumors will die out if there is no one to tell them. But the second verse goes on to say an evil man who is determined to stir up trouble will, just like when you have a fire you have to stir the coals to keep it burning and add more wood to it to. An evil man will juast keep adding to lies he is telling to see just how much trouble he can cause. This is probably on group of people that is hard to reach to try to get them to see the error of their ways but we can still pray for them.