Happened to me aswell ...
I noticed that there is burning effect on ground, so i tryed to cast create water spell on that ...

And voila! laugh
Nobody turned hostile, conversation started. laugh

So my gues is that game cannot curently work with the fact that the fire that is hurting npc is just sideffect of your work and not intentional attack. laugh

I still dont understand why cant we change Race for our hirelings. frown
Lets us play Githyanki as racist as they trully are! frown