Montag compares himself to a conductor. What does this symbol mean?

In the first chapter of Fahrenheit 451, as Montag holds the brass nozzle of a hose and spurts kerosene onto books that he is burning, Bradbury compares Montag to a conductor. Montag uses the hose to ignite books and to create "symphonies of blazing and burning." The author compares burning books to creating the sound and effects of a symphony, in which many instruments come together to create an explosion of sound and music. In the same way, the kerosene and the books come together to create a blazing fire. Montag holds the brass nozzle that begins the blaze, much as the conductor of a symphony holds a baton that cues the musicians to start playing. However, while a symphony is an act of creation, a fire is an act of destruction.