To give yourself more shit than others around you. You're in control of the level of torment others give you. Just like a bushfire, a well executed backburn helps contain out of control fires! So to does backburning yourself during a conversation, It helps prevent more shit giving from mates.
Person 1: what's with the pink shirt? You look gay as fuck!
Person 2: well, I love dick
Person 1: haha...you fuckhead
Person 2 has successfully back burned to prevent Person 1 giving more shit!
when someone tries to burn you but their burn ends up being weak or false and you burn them worse based on their crappy burn.
Friend 1: "Dude your sister is such an idiot is dating that loser."
Friend 2: "Um, she dumped him...he's dating your sister."
Friend 3: "Oh! Back Burned!